Ayoub Redemptive Suffering in Islam

Redemptive Suffering in Islam
Religion and Society 10
GENERAL EDITORS
Leo Laeyendecker, University of Leyden
Jacques Waardenburg, University of Utrecht
Mouton Publishers The Hague Paris New York

Redemptive Suffering in Islam
A Study of the Devotional Aspects of
<Ashura> in Twelver Shi<ism
MAHMOUD AYOUB
,.,
University of Toronto
Mouton Publishers The Hague Paris New York

ISBN: 9()-279-7943-X
Jacket design: Wasma'a Chorbachi

1978, Mouton Publishers, The Hague, The Netherlands
Primed in Great Britai11
To the people of Iran
In grateful recognition of the inspira-
tion I received during my stay in
Mashhad from their devotion to the
memory of the Martyr of Karbala>
and his family.
Preface
The present study is a revised version of a Ph.D. dissertation which I

presented to the Faculty of Religious Studies of Harvard University
Graduate School of Arts and Sciences in the spring of1975. The initial
work grew out of an idea for a comparative study of the concept of
redemptive suffering in Christianity and Islam.
For over a millennium, the Sh'i1'i community has kept the memory
of the death of the grandson of the Prophet, rehearsing and interioriz-
ing its tragic details in ever-growing emotional intensity. Every year,
during the first ten days of Muharram, the first month of the Islamic
calendar, groups of devotees gather together to lament the martyred
Imam in heart-rending dirges, to recount the familiar tale of the drama
of Karbala> and to affirm their loyalty to its martyrs. The cult which
has grown around this event of early Islamic history has provided
Islamic piety with a unique expression of the phenomenon of re-
demption through the suffering and passion of a divine hero or holy
martyr. The literature which this popular piety has produced is vast,
highly emotional and even fantastic, especially to the modern western
reader. To capture some of the spirit of this piety and its literature, I
felt it necessary to speak its language and paint as faithful a picture as
possible of its devotional and ritualistic character without losing sight
of the rigorous demands of modern scholarship. The degree to which I
have been able to achieve this goal was due in large measure to the help
I have received from my professors and many friends and colleagues.
I am especially grateful to Professor Annemarie Schimmel, who
was my thesis advisor, for kindly reading the various drafts of my
work and offering many valuable suggestions and much needed
encouragement. I would like to thank also Professors John B. Carman
and Muhsin Mahdi for their interest in my work and supportive
encouragement, and the Center for the Study ofWorld Religions and
the Middle East Center ofHarvard University for the generous grants
without which this study would not have been possible.
8 Priface
I am deeply grateful to my friend and colleague Dr. William A.

Graham for his invaluable help in following the progress of this study,
always ready to offer his sound advice and constructive criticism. To
Dr. Wheeler M. Thackston I owe many thanks for his assistance, and
to my friend <Abd al-Karim Crow for his careful work in typing the
final draft. I am also grateful to my wife Lynda Clarke for her patient
and meticulous care in helping correct and edit the final draft of this
work, correcting the proofs and preparing the index.
The publication of this work has been made possible by a generous
grant from friends who wish to remain anonymous. Their generosity
has also provided the funds for much needed technical work in editing
and revising the text in preparation for publication. I am forever
indebted to my esteemed profes:;or Dr. Wilfred Cantwell Smith for
his kindness and guidance throughout my years of study at the Center
for the Study of World Religions. To him I owe the appreciation for
my own religious tradition and whatever sensitivity I have for the
study of man's religiousness in general. His clear and incisive thinking
has helped me greatly in formulating my own ideas and approach to
the present investigation. The responsibility for all the inadequacies
and shortcomings of this study is mine alone.
Toronto, 1978 Mahmoud Ayoub

Contents
PREFACE 7
TRANSLITERATION AND ABBREVIATIONS 13
INTRODUCTION 15
1. THE HOUSE OF SORROWS (Bayt al-Ahzan) 23
1. The merit of suffering for the pious 25
2. The participation of ancient prophets in the
suffering of the Holy Family 27
3. The privation and poverty of ahl al-bayt and their
favor with God 37
4. The suffering and death of Fa~imah, the radiant
one, mistress of the House of Sorrows 48
2. THE PRooFs OF Goo (Jfujaj Allah) 53

1. The creation and substance of the imams 54
2. The place of th~ imams in human history and their
relationship to divine revelation (wa~i} 57
3. The personality of the imam and signs of his imamate 65
3. THE MASTER OF THE YOUTHS OF pARADISE (Sayyid_

Shabab Ahl al-]annah) 69
1. J:Iusayn's birth and childhood 70
2. J:Iusayn's virtues and later years 85
4. THE WRONGED MARTYR (al-Shahid al-Ma~liim) 93

1. The historical background 94
2. Early accounts and interpretations of J:Iusayn's
martyrdom 97
3. Later developments and pietistic interpretations 120
10 Contents
5. THE SIGH OF THE SORROWFUL (Nafas af-Mahmum) 141

1. The merit of weeping for J:lusayn 142
2. The ta 1zlyah celebration:
its growth and general characteristics 148
3. The place of lamentation poetry (marathi) in the
MuQ.arram cultus 158
4. The zlyarah ritual and its place in Sh?-1 piety 180
6. AT THE PoOL Of AL-KAWTHAR (1Afii .f;law4 af-Kawthar) 197

1. Intercession: the reward of suffering 198
2. The day of the great thirst 205
3. The faithful remnant 210
4. Fatimah: the mistress of the Day of Judgment 212
5. al-Mahdl, the final avenger 216
CONCLUSION 231
APPENDICES 235
A. APPENDIX TO CHAPTER 1: 'Tf!:E HousE OF SoRRows' 235
A.1 Earlier prophets 235
A.2 The Holy Family 238
B. APPENDI~ TO CHAPTER 3: 'THE MASTER OF THE YOUTHS

Of PARADISE' 241
B.1 Discourses of Imiim I:Iusayn 241
B.2 Short sayings of Imam I:Iusayn 243
B.3 Prayers and meditations of Imam I:Iusayn 244
c. APPENDIX TO CHAPTER 4: 'THE WRONGED MARTYR' 245

Concerning I:Iusayn's ascension to heaven 245
D. APPENDIX TO CHAPTER 5: 'THE SIGH Of THE SORROWFUL. 249

D.t Examples of Persian mariithl 249
D.2 A ta 1zlyah majlis 251
Contents 11
D.3 A ziyorah attributed to the twelfth Imam during

his occultation (ghaybah) 254
NoTES 259
BIBLIOGRAPHY 289
INDEX OF NAMES 293
SUBJECT INDEX 297
Transliteration and Abbreviations
1. TRANSLITERATION
The transliteration of Arabic into English in the present work follows

in general the method of the Library of Congress as outlined in the
Cataloguing Service Bulletin 49 (November 1958).
2. ABBREVIATIONS
Complete bibliographical information for the works listed below can

be found in the Bibliography.
E/ 2 The Encyclopaedia of Islam, New Edition (1960--
SEI Gibb, H. A. R. and Kramers, J. H., Shorter Encyclopaedia

cif Islam
GAL Brockelmann, Karl, Geschichte der Arabischen Literatur
(2nd revised edition)
GAL(S) Brockelmann, Karl, Geschichte der Arabischett Literatur:

Supplement
GAS Sezgin, Fuat, Geschichte des Arabischen Schriftums, Vol. I

Introduction
Islam has no clearly defined doctrine of redemption. Yet redemption

plays a vital role in the actual life of the Muslim community and has
been a dynamic force through the acceptance and understanding of
suffering. Purposeful suffering is the holy struggle (jihad) of man in the
way of God. This is so regarded both at the personal level and at the
social level, where personal suffering could be meaningful for the
society and its religious life through history. This idea has its definite
roots in the Qur>an 1 and continued to play an important role in later
Islamic piety, especially in Sufism.
It is with the meaning of the suffering and martyrdom of Imam
l:lusayn, grandson of the Prophet and spiritual head of the ShN com-
munity, that this study will be concerned. His martyrdom has been
seen by ShNs as necessary to the fulfillment of his role as imam;
without it he could not have become the paradigm of selfless sacrifice,
the measure of truth and falsehood, nor the intercessor on the Day of
Judgment for his followers. The question to be investigated is in what
way his martyrdom has been regarded as redemptive. The inves-
tigation will deal with repr_esentative classical and medieval devotional
materials, beginning with the earliest available sources from the fourth
century A.H., and ending with the writings of the ninth century A.H.,
just prior to the consolidation of Sh;<i Islam as the state religion oflran
under the Safavids.
It is our thesis in this study that all suffering can be in some way
redemptive. More particularly.~the suffering oflmam I;Iusayn has been
taken by the Sh;<i community to be a source of salvation through the
interiorization and emulation of that ~uffering by the community\and
through the high favor of the Imam as an intercessor. This intercession
is the direct reward of the sufferings of the entire family of the
Prophet, and ofl:lusayn especially, as his status could be attained only
through martyrdom. 'Redemption in ShN piety must be understood
within the context of intercession .. It will be seen that according to ShN
16 Introduction
thought, all the imams have shared in this suffering. Consequently,

they will also share in the divine gift ofintercession. Finally, we would
like to submit that redemption, in whatever way it is understood,
includes both salvation and judgement: salvation for the elect of
mankind and judgement for their enemies.
This study will investigate the life and place of Imam f:Iusayn in the
history of the devotion, hopes and piety of the Ithna<ashari Shi<ah. Our
purpose will not be to document the historicity of any particular event
in his life, nor to investigate the authenticity of anything that he may
have said. These are the tasks for historians of the origins ofShri Islam.
Our intent is rather to look at his life from the point of view of popular
devotion and to deal primarily with the community's understanding
of his life. Thus, we will attempt to study the legends, hagiographical
writings, popular poetry, and similar devotional literature ofta<ziyah
andziyiirah. Ta<z'iyah consists of memorial services (majiilis) held in the
month of Mul}arram or at any time of year in whi,ch popular poetry in
the form of elegies (marath'i) plays an important part. Z'iyiirah is pil-
grimage, actual or symbolic, to f:Iusayn's shrine, and the literature
associated with it. Both of these genres of pietistic literature, and
especially the second, represent liturgical devotions that can be per-
formed in their special seasons or at other times of the year both for the
memory that they revive in the hearts of the people and for the
blessing (barakah) that they provide.
The study itself will be divided into six chapters structured around
certain key terms or concepts from the literature itsel In Chapter 1,
entitled 'The House of Sorrows (bayt al-ahzan)', we shall consider the
value of suffering in general and specifically the sufferings of the Holy
Family of the Prophet. This and the following chapters will, in a way,
set the stage for what follows. The 'House of Sorrows' represents in
Shi11 piety the community of suffering, which is basically the twelve
imams, the Prophet and his daughter. Into this community, the pious
devotees of the imams can enter through their participation in the
suffering of the Holy Family. Of special significance for Shr'i piety is
the suffering and death of Fatimah al-Zahra> (the radiant) who,
through her suffering, death and final exaltation, has represented for
the Shr'i community both its disappointments and hopes. Thus, a
special section will be devoted to her. The House of Sorrows is
Introduction 17
moreover the community of suffering to which, in some way, all the

earlier prophets belong. Indeed, it spans the entire creation from the
beginnings ofhuman history to its final eschatological consummation
on the Day ofjudgment. We shall, therefore, consider briefly the role
of earlier prophets in that cosmic drama.
The imams are regarded by Sh,Ci piety not simply as a persecuted
group of people, but rather as people whos~ mere existence is neces-
sary for the creation and subsistence of the world. It is, therefore,
important, before we discuss the special status ofi:Iusayn the martyr in
Shi<i piety, to look at the Shi<i doctrine of the imam and, more speci-
fically, the role which the imams have played in creation and the history
of mankind. This chapter will be devoted to a discussion of the imams;
their creation, the substance of which they are supposed to be made,
and the role they play in the history ofhuman salvation and judgment.
The first two chapters will be an introduction to what follows in this
study. Thus, Chapter 3 will deal with Imam I:Iusayn; his birth, child-
hood and his later years, just before the events leading to his mar-
tyrdom. It will be seen that at every step from his birth onward, his
impending death was anticipated and his status as the great martyr
emphasized. I;Iusayn is seen by Shi<i piety as the paragon of wisdom
and courage and of piety and generosity. Some of these ideas will be
dealt with, and more examples of his wisdom, eloquence and piety
will be given in the appendix (Appendix B) to this chapter.
The sufferings of the Holy Family, the special status oftheimiim and
the early life oflmam l:Iusayn may be seen as a prelude or background to
the event of Karbala 1 Thus, Chapter 4 will deal at considerable
length with the Shi<i understanding of I:Iusayn's martyrdom. We
shall first examine the earliest interpretations of this event as seen by
historians of Islam such as Tabari and the Shi<i writers of early
biographies of the imams such as Shaykh al-Mufid; then we shall
consider the later developments. Again our concern will be not with
the historical events alone, but more with the way these events
were interiorized by the community and made the focal point of
their upderstanding of history.
Chapters 5 and 6 will continue this same theme by showing how the
community directly relates to the event ofKarbala>, and through it to
the life and mission of the imams. First we shall consider in Chapter 5
18 Introduction
the idea of the reward (thawab) for weeping for the sufferings of the
imams, particularly for Imam I:Iusayn, and the special thawab for com-
posing and reciting poetry in his memory. Secondly, we shall analyze
some of the major themes of this poetry and give examples when
necessary. This genre of poetry is known as marathi (elegies), and
constitutes part of the ta<ziyah majalis, or memorial services, held in
honor of l;Iusayn's martyrdom. A typical majlis (memorial service)
will be described, relying both onwritten sources and on personal
experience. Perhaps the most unique feature of the pietistic celebration
ofi:Iusayn's martyrdom is the ziyarah ritual. J'hrough this ritual the
pact of loyalty of the devotees with the f.!loly Family is continually
renewed and the imams' prerogative ofintercession and redemption is
expressed. The zfyarah ritual could be _t>art of the ta<zfyah celebration
or it could be an independent devotional act of covenant renewal. The
ziyarah looks forward to the eschatological consummation of the
drama of Karbala>.
Chapter 6 will deal specifically with Shr<i eschatology. First we shall
examine the intercessory role of the Prophet and the imams through
the concept of the hawq al-kawthar (a large pool or basin). The com-
munity through its participation in the sufferings of the Imam shares in
the Imam's role of intercession and redemption as well. This rela~ion of
the devotees with the imams will be our second point of investigation.
Fatimah, who is seen as the mistress of the House ofSorrows both in
this world and in the world to come, will be also the mistress of the
Day of Judgment. Her sufferings as described in Chapter 1 will be
finally rewarded and her vindication will be the vindication of her
devotees and the judgment of her enemies.
The imams in their earthly careers have often presented a picture of
dismal failure or quiet assent to the rule of those whom they con-
sidered usurpers of their own power. This apparent failure of the
imams can be seen also as the failure of their community. Thus, their
hopes and the hopes of their devotees are dramatically expressed in the
violent career of the Mahdi, the final avenger. The Mahdi is the twelfth
Imam whose return after a long period of occultation is expected by the
community. He will avenge the blood and wrongs of all those who
were martyred or persecuted in the way of God from the beginning of
the world. In this great mission of the descendant of l;Iusayn, the
Introduction 19
Prophet as well as the first three imams will participate. The return of
the Mahdl, therefore, will provide the natural conclusion of this long
cosmic drama.
The death of I:Iusayn, however, has meant different things at dif-
ferent periods for the Muslim community. Nor was the significance of
this event limited to the Shz<l followers of the imams. We shall conclude
this study, therefore, by briefly relating this fascinating phenomenon
in Shz<l Islam to its similar phenomena in other religious traditions. In
whatever way the death ofl:Iusayn has b~en understood, it has not lost
its aspect of redemption. Redemption may be seen as direct inter-
cession or direct example. In the second case it redeems, so to speak,
the community and its ideal by continuing to provide a living example
of self-sacrifice.
The death of I:Iusayn and the movement which grew around it
could be studied as a political movement. As will be seen, the Mubar-
ram cultus has provided the Muslim world, and especially the Sht<i
community, with one of the most dynamic forces in its long history.
As expressed in the language of myth and folk piety, it has judged and
consoledomen and women in every age and place in the world oflslam.
We have conscious! y endeavored in this work to preserve the language
and idiom of the literature of the <iishiira> devotion, and whenever
possible have let the sources speak for themselves.
METHOD, ScoPE AND Souaces
The themes discussed in the outline above represent a long historical

development. The method of investigation employed in this study is
to trace this development, examining the relevant concepts and devo-
tional practices up to the ninth century A.H. (fifteenth century A.D.).
This will be done through a study of representative sources from the
fourth to the ninth centuries A.H.
There is very little written about the subject earlier than the late
third and early fourth centuries A.H. Although these early sources
relate traditions that go back to the twelve imams and certainly contain
some authentic early materials, they must be seen as products of their
age and its concerns. There are a few important elegies, said to have
20 Introduction
been composed shortly after the death of I:Iusayn, which provide

some idea of very early developments; these will have to be considered
as well. It is, however, with the fourth century that this study really
begins.
The earliest available source that touches on our subject is the
important hadith collection of Mubammad Ya<qub Ibn Isbaq al-
Kulayni al-Razr (d. 328/939) which is entitleda/-Kafi. One section of
this book, Kitab al-lfujjah, deals specifically with the concept of the
imamate and the lives of the imams. Although the traditions here that
are directly relevant to our investigation are relatively few, nonethe-
less they present some of the earliest concepts that were to shape the
Shjl-i pietistic cult ofi:Iusayn and his martyrdom. Also important are
the writings of Shaykh al-Sadiiq Ibn Babawayh al-Qummi3 (d.
381/991). His book al-Amali aw ai-Majalis 4 has some very important
traditions that indicate a very early development of many of the
notions and practices with which this study is concerned. Other
writings by this man are also important and will be used. Another
important early source isal-Irshad by Shaykh al-Mufid 5 (d. 413/1022),
His book is an important source for the biographies of the imams, and
many later writers use him as a primary source of information.
Of the general historical works that will be used in this book, the
most important is that of Mubammad b. Jarir b. Yazid al-Tabari6 (d.
31 0/923). He used as his source a lost martyrdom narrative, the Maqtal
al-lfusayn of Abii Mikhnaf (d. 157/774). His work is an important
source not just for the actual historical events of the life of Imam
l:lusayn, but for the popular understanding of them as well. Two
important early historians, al-Ya1qiibi11 (d. 284/897) and al-Mas1iidr
(d. 345/956), were ShNs themselves, and their works, especially Mas-
<udi's Ithbat al- Wa~lyyah, reflect the devotional ShN attitude of their
time. The authenticity of this work is, however, doubted by some
modern scholars. 10
Another important genre is that of the martyrdom narratives, or
maqatil, which have remained so popular that they are still being
written today. The earliest of these is the Maqtal al-lfusayn of Abii
Mikhnaf mentioned above. The Maqatil al- Taliblyyln of Abii al-Faraj
al-I~fahani 11 (d. 365/967) presents some very early and somewhat
sober accounts of the martyrdom ofKarbala> and the events leading to
Introduction 21
it. Another important later maqtal is al-Luhiif by Ibn Tawiis 12 (d.

664/1266). The author himself was an important figure in Sh;<i religi-
ous thought and in his book he preserves many early traditions relat-
ing to the significance of the martyrdom of l:lusayn and his ziyiirah.
Ibn Nama al-I:Iilli 1:1 (d. 650/1252) was a very well known jurist and
religious thinker. He claims that his work Muthir al-Ahzan is a careful
selection from the many traditions for devotional use during the days
of Muharram, and as such it contains much that is valuable for our
purposes. One century earlier another important maqtal was produced
by al-Khawarizmi 14 (d. 568/1172), who was a student of the famous
al-Zamakhshari. This is a book preserving numerous traditions on the
life and virtues of the Prophet and his family. The author was a reliable
traditionist and provides complete chains of authorities for his mat-
erial. It is also significant that al-Khawarizmi himself was not a ShN
Muslim, yet his language and idiom come very close to the traditional
Sh~i approach.
The final type of material to be considered is that relating to ta!ziyah
and ziyiirah, which may generally be described as hagiographical
literature. The Maniiqib AI Abi Tiilib by Ibn Shahrashiib 15 (d. 588/1192)
relates the life of the twelve imams, preserving all the hagiographical
traditions up to his time. This book also contains many elegies as well
as ziyiirah traditions. An even earlier work of the same genre is Dalii 1il
al-Imiimah by Muhammad b. Jarir b. Rustam al-Tabari 16 (d. first
quarter of the fourteenth century A. H.). A similar work isal-Muntakhab
by al-Turayhi al-Fakhri (d. 1085/1674). Although this is a late work,
still it preserves much that is traditional. Its main value is that it is a
collection ofmariithi and sermons prepared specifically for use during
the first ten days of Muharram. This book, therefore, is an actual
ta<ziyah majiilis collection. The Bihiir al-Anwiir of Muhammad Baqir
al-Majlisi 17 (d. 1111/1699) is an important encyclopedic work. Again
the author collected materials from ancient sources, many of which are
no longer extant. Volume ten of this large work deals specifically with
the life and martyrdom of Imiim I:Iusayn and devotional practices
associated with it. 111 The earliest and perhaps most important source
on ziyiirah proper is Kiimil al-Ziyiiriit by Abii al-Qasim Ja<far b.
Muhammad Ibn Qawlawayh al-Qummi19 (d. 367/978). Also to be
used in this study is a contemporary collection ofmariithi (Adab al- Taff
22 Introduction
aw Shu 1arii> al-l-fusayn) compiled by Jawad Shubbar. This is a

chronological collection of mariithi from the first century A. H. to the
present and is very complete.
Unfortunately, only one representative source of the traditional
maqiitil (martyrdom narrative) genre is available in a European lan-
guage. This is the translation of some early maqtal materials (translated
by F. Wiistenfeld, Gottingen, 1883) published under the title Der Tod
des Husein ben 'Ali und die Rache, ein historischen Roman aus dem Arabis-
chen. No other source dealing with the popular devotional aspects of
the Mul)arram tragedy has, to my knowledge, been translated into a
western language. I have seen several theses and other works in
French, English and German dealing with the later passion play or
ta<ziyah in Iran. These, however, deal with the period of the Safavids
(sixteenth century) and later, which falls outside the scope of this
work.
1
The House of Sorrows

Bayt al-Ahzan 1
Human life has been marked by a great mystery, the mystery of

suffering and death. 2 Human consciousness, from its earliest begin-
nings, has been a consciousness of suffering, of either actual physical
pain or mental agony, or both together. The first steps towards
civilization, the building ofhuman society, may be seen as attempts to
face suffering with all its anxieties, insecurities and pain, and to find
some meaning in life in spite of it. These attempts could be charac-
terized as the search for identity and permanence, and for meaning and
value in an otherwise ephemeral and desperate existence.
The next great leap forward in human consciousness involves the
realization that meaning and fulfillment in humaP life can be attained
not in spite of, but through, suffering and even death. This quest for
the redemption of man, and, indeed, of the totality of phenomenal
existence, is t}J.e essence of faith. Faith, to be sure, is a divine gift of
grace to man; yet man's acceptance of it, wor:king out in his life its
implications and demands, is what we mean by the quest offaith. This
search for meaning in the most meaningless aspects of life has domi-
nated myth and ritual, spiritual quests and cultural achievements since
the dawn of recorded history. Considered from the point of view of
the history of religion, this process becomes the history of revelation,
or of divine providence at work in human history, shaping and guid-
ing its course toward final fulfillment in God.
Redemption is used here in its broadest sense to mean the healing of
existence or the fulfillment of human life. Thus the meaning of re-
demption in this instance must be distinguished from redemption as a
theological concept, and especially from its technical use in Christian
theology. This fulfillment through suffering is what this study will
call redemption. The basic assumption is that all suffering can, in some
sense, be regarded as redemptive where faith is present; the faith which
gives hope against despair and fulfillment against the annihilation of
death. It is the faith which cries out in the words of the Psalmist, 'Even
24 The House of Sorrows
though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil;
for thou art with me. ' 3 It is the hope proclaimed in the words of the
Master: 'Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. ' 4
It is the fulfillment affirmed in spite of death, by those men of faith
who' ... when visited by calamity ... say "to God do we belong, and
to him we shall return" '. 5
Suffering, whatever its cause and nature may be, must be regarded
as an evil power of negation and destruction. It is non-being, the
opposite of the Good which is Being in all its fullness. Suffering, or
non-being, cannot itself be destroyed, but it can and must be trans-
formed. This transformation of suffering from a power of total neg-
ation into something of value is effected through human faith and
divine mercy. Thus transformed, suffering becomes the great teacher
for the pious, their road to salvation. The redemptive power of suf-
fering lies in the fact that suffering can be overcome only by its own
power. This is movingly stated in the Christian liturgical hymn which
triumphantly proclaims that 'Christ rose from the dead trampling
death by death and giving life to those in the tomb. ' 6
In this chapter we shall first consider the question of suffering in
general and its meritorious aspects according to lsl:imic traditions
(hadith). It will be seen that suffering is proportionate to man's piety
and status with God. Thus prophets have the greater share of afflic-
tions, and as we shall see below their sufferings are purposeful in that
they provide an example for the pious and a test of their own faith and
endurance. Secondly, in order to fully understand the profound mean-
ing of the suffering of the Holy Family for Sh~l devotees, we shall take
a brieflook at the depiction of the sufferings of the Holy Family in the
participatory sufferings of earlier prophets.
Thirdly, we shall consider the sufferings and privations of the
Prophet Mubammad and his family, specifically as portrayed in
hagiographical sources and commemorated by ShN Muslims. The
sufferings of the Holy Family are seen by the Sh~'i community as the
culmination of all suffering of the pious from the beginning of human
history until its final consummation.
Since Eitimah, the daughter of Mubammad, epitomizes the quiet
suffering of a pious and weak woman for Islamic piety in general and
S.hN piety in particular, we shall consider her case in some detail. She is
The merit of suffering for the pious 25
considered the mistress par excellence of the House of Sorrows. As she

endured the greatest sufferings here on earth, she will, on the Day of
Resurrection, enjoy great rewards and total vindication. Her vin-
dication, moreover, will include the vindication of the Holy Family
and the entire community.
The purpose of this chapter will be to put in its proper context the
sufferings of Imam I:Iusayn as understood and interiorized by the Shi1i
community. This study is an investigation of a long drama ofsuffering
looking back to the time before creation and forward to the end of
human history. Our discussion in this chapter will provide the central
core of this drama.
1.1 THE MERIT OF SUFFERING FOR THE PIOUS
For the people of God, this world is a world of suffering and sorrow; it
is indeed the House of Sorrows. This idea has been expressed with
strong emphasis in the Islamic tradition, in spite of an equally strong
stress on all the good things that this world offers for man gratefully to
accept and enjoy. As the hadiths (discussed below) will demonstrate,
the man of faith will be visited with suffering and calamity in accor-
dance with the strength and durability of his faith. His patient endur-
ance will be accordingly rewarded. When Sa1d b. Abi Waqqa~ asked,
'0 Apostle of God, who among men are those afflicted with the
greatest calamity?', the Prophet replied:
The prophets, then the pious, everyone according to the degree of
his piety. A man is afflicted according to his faith (din); ifhis faith is
durable, his affliction is accordingly increased, and if his faith is
weak [literally, thin], his affliction is made lighter. Afflictions con-
tinue to oppress the worshipful servant (1abd) until they leave him
walking on the face of the earth without any sin cleaving to him. 7
Another companion, Abu Sa1id al-Khudri, came to visit the Prophet,
who was suffering from such a high fever his visitor could feel it burn
through his covers, '0 Apostle of God, how strong this fever is in
you!', he said. The Prophet answered, 'Yes, so it is. Our afflictions are
multiplied in order that our rewards may also be multiplied.' When
26 The House of So"ows
the visitor asked, 'Who are the most afflicted of men?', the Prophet
gave him the same answer and continued, ' ... the pious man is so
afflicted with poverty that he finds no mantle to cover him. Yet he
would rejoice with affliction as you would with comfort and ease. ' 8
Calamity and sorrow are not the lot of the individual only. The
House of Sorrows is shared as an earthly abode by all the children of
God. It is their place of trials and means of showing their love for Him.
The Prophet said,
The greatness of the reward [of the man of faith] is proportionate
with the greatness ofhis afflictions. For, if God loves a people, He
visits them with afflictions. He who is content [that is, with God's
will], with him will God be pleased, and he who is wrathful, divine
wrath will he have. 9
Feeling contentment (riqa) with the divine will, the pious hope for His
mercy and conform to His will. Thus, the trials of affliction are more
than a mere discipline; they are an active choice made independently of
rewards and punishments. The -sixth Imam, Ja<far al-S:idiq, relates a
tradition from the Book oj<Ali 10 essentially similar to the first tradition
cited in this section, but he adds, ' ... for, God [exalted be His Majesty]
made this world as neither a reward for the believer nor punishment
for the unbeliever. Truly affliction is nearer to the pious man of faith
than is the fallen rain to the earth.' 11 Here we see one way to over-
come suffering: by regarding it as something positive, the necessary
training or discipline for the people of God and the final test of their
faith.
The House of Sorrows becomes the abode of the 'soul content in
God'. 12 The House ofSorrows is older than creation itself, and it shall
remain until the last day when a!l sorrow and suffering shall be no
more and the soul that was content during its sojourn in this vale of
tears will enter into final bliss in the paradise of God. 13 The House of
Sorrows encompasses not only all human history, but the cosmos
in its totality as well: the heavens and the earth and all that exists.
The cosmic notion that all things, present, past and future, suffer with
and for the Holy Family will be emphasized often throughout this
study.
The participation of ancient prophets 27
1.2 THE PARTICIPATION OF ANCIENT PROPHETS IN THE SUFFE~IJS"G OF

THE HOLY FAMILY
The family or household (ahl al-bayt) of the Prophet Mubammad

occupies a central place in Shi"i piety. Their suffering and sorrows are
in turn intensely concentrated in the sufferings of one man, 'the
wronged martyr', Imam l;Iusayn, son of 1Ali Ibn Abi Talib. Indeed, all
sufferings before are but a prelude to his, the final act in a long drama
of tribulation. He is the seal of the martyrs and their chief All suffering
and martyrdom after him are only modes of participation in his
martyrdom. The Jewish savant (chief of the rabbis) Ka 1b al-Abbar,
who embraced Islam during the caliphate of the second Caliph,
1Umar, is said to have declared:
The greatest Malhamah (tragic episode) is that one which will never
be forgotten. It is the corruption (fasiid) which God mentioned in
the Books [scriptures] and in your book [the Qurlan] saying, 'Cor-
ruption has appeared on the land and in the sea.' This corruption
opened with the martyrdom ofHabil (Abel) and will close with the
martyrdom of l;Iusayn Ibn 1Ali. 14
Before Karbalal, from Adam onward, the prophets are said to have
participated in the sorrows of Mubammad and his vicegerents, and
especially in the martyrdom of his grandson, l;Iusayn, in two ways.
Each was told ofit, and thus shared in the grief of the Holy Family; and
in a small way, directly or indirectly, each tasted some of the pain or
sorrow that is associated with the sacred spot of Karbalal.
Adam, the father ofhumanity, was the first to know of the people of
the House of Sorrows and to participate in their grie( Their names
were the 'words' (kalimiit) that he received from his Lord, ' ... and He
turned towards him'. 15 When Adam disobeyed the divine command,
and was consequently expelled from paradise, the angel Gabriel came
down and taught him to pray thus:
Say, 0 Thou who art praised (hamid), for the sake ofMuQ.ammad; 0
Thou who art most high (Ia if), for the sake of 1Ali, 0 Thou who alone
art the Creator (fo(ir), for the sake ofFatimah; 0 Thou who art alone
the Bountiful (muhsin), for the sake ofl;Iasan and l;Iusayn, and from
Thee comes all the bounty (ihsiin), turn Thy face towards me. 16
When Adam mentioned the name of I:Iusayn, his heart sank and his
tears flowed. He asked the angel why and was told,
Your son I:Iusayn will be afflicted with a calamity (mu,{ibah) beside
which all calamities will appear insignificant. He shall be killed
thirsty, a stranger and one utterly abandoned, having no supporter
or help. If only you could see him when he will cry out, 0 Adam, '0
my thirst, 0 my abandonment!', then thirst will stand between him
and heaven like a veil of smoke. His cries will be answered only by
strikes of the sword and the cup of death. Then will he be slain like a
lamb, from the back of the neck, and his enemies will pillage his
goods. His head and those of his supporters will be paraded in the
land, and with them his womenfolk carried captives. All this has
pre-existed in the omniscience of the One, the All Giver (mannan). 17
Hearing this, Adam wept bitterly like a mother grieving for her loved
one. 1H
Adam is also depicted as actually sharing in the pain of the Imam.
When he was expelled from the Garden with his wife Eve and left to
roam the earth, he arrived in the spot ofKarbala>. There, without any
apparent cause, his heart became oppressed with grief; he tripped over
a stone, and blood gushed from his foot. He lifted his eyes to heaven
and cried out, '0 my Lord, have I now committed yet another
transgression for which Thou hast punished me thus? For I have
roamed the whole earth and no adversity has befallen me as it did in
this spot.' God sent to him the reply, '0 Adam, you have committed
no transgression, but on this spot your son l:lusayn will be wrongly
killed, and thus your blood flowed in emulation of his blood.' Then
Adam asked, 'Willi:Iusayn be a prophet?' The answer came back, 'No,
but he will be the descendant of the Prophet Mubammad.' Adam
asked who his murderer would be; he was told, '. . . Yazid, the
accursed of the inhabitants of the heavens and the earth.' Adam
continued, 'What must I do, 0 Gabriel?' 'Curse him, 0 Adam', the
angel answered. So Adam cursed Yazid four times. Then he walked
on, seeking his wife Eve, and found her on Mount <Aralat. 19
Sacred history belongs not to material or calendar time; rather it has
its own logic which transcends our time .;and space. With Adam, the
father of mankind, begins exoteric history within the sequence of time
and the realm of space. Yet Adam also enters esoteric history, the
history that is not bound by time or space and moves within etert;tal
time (azal), the time before time was. He enters through his par-
ticipation in the sorrows and sufferings of the people who are the
prime characters in that sacred history and whose sufferings, or
earthly lives, are its focal points.
Many traditions assert that God created Mul)ammad, 1Ali and their
descendants before heaven and earth. A few of these traditions will be
examined in the following chapter of this study; one of these, how-
ever, is immediately relevant. On the authority of Ibn Mas1ud, the
Prophet said:
... God created me, 1Ali, Fa{imah, I:Iasan and I:Iusayn, from the
light of His holiness. When He wished to bring His creation into
being, He split open ifataqa) my light and from it made the heavens
and the earth and I, by God, am greater than the heavens and the
earth. God then split open the light of 1Ali and from it made the
throne ('arsh) and stool (kursi) and 1Ali, by God, is greater than the
throne and the stool. He split open the light of J:Iasan and from it
He created the black-eyed houris and the angels. Then God split open
the light ofJ:Iusayn and from it He made the tablet (law~) and the
pen (qalam), and I:Iusayn is more exalted than the tablet and the
pen.2o
It is perhaps not a mere coincidence that J:Iusayn is linked in this
creation myth with the two items of destiny and revelation. The tablet
is both the record of human destiny and the archetypal form of the
Qur 1an; the pen moves ofits own accord in this heavenly tablet to trace
out the divine decrees of destiny. In a very direct and special way,
I:Iusayn is connected with the history of creation and of mankind. He
is also linked to the divine plan of the universe and through his
martyrdom the destiny of ~en is determined. Human history
revolves around him: first as the lmiim and father of the imams, and
secondly through the mission of the Mahdl who will avenge f:lusayn's
blood and fulfill his mission.
Here we see that it was necessary for God to create the redeemer
before the redeemed. It will be clear in the following chapter that the
imams, for whose sake all things were created, were themselves created
30 The House cif Sorrows
before all things. Through them, moreover, God predestined the final
fulfillment of creation, as in the Logos Christology, where all that was
made through Christ the Logos. 21 Nor is the central act of the drama of
redemption, that is, the martyrdom of the Imiim, confined to profane
time. Adam, as well as other prophets, we are told, saw the tragedy of
Karbala 1 in all its details. 22 In fact, the words often used to describe the
manner in which Adam saw the tragic event are maththala lahu, 2:1 that
is, He (God) showed him the form of the event, rehearsed it for him, or
had it acted out. The timelessness of a central event like this one, or the
crucifixion of Christ, is a recurrent notion in the history of man's
religion to which we shall return when we consider the eschatological
aspects of the <Ashurii 1 devotions, in Chapter 6.
The imams enter into our history through their office as imams, the
inheritance of the prophets and their vicegerents (aw~iya 1) until the end
of time. As we shall see in the following chapter, every prophet from
Adam to MuQ.ammad had his aw~iya 1 who carried on his mission until
the coming of the next major prophet. Thus for Sh1<1 piety, the cycles
of prophethood and imamate are intricately related and the latter is
necessary for the completion of the former. The imams, as it were,
break into our history without being bound by it. As imams, they
belong in their essential being to metahistory, the history of salva-
tion. We are told on the authority of the fifth Imam, Mul).ammad al-
Baqir,
When the prophethood of Adam was consummated and his days
were fulfilled, God said .to him, '0 Adam, I have fulfilled your days
and your prophetic mission has been completed. Render therefore
the Knowledge (<iim) which you possess, the Faith (imiin), and the
Great Name [of God]. the inheritance of Knowledge and the treas-
ures of the prophetic sciences to your descendants beginning with
your son, Seth, the gift of God. ' 24
Prophets and vicegerents up to MuQ.ammad followed one another,
God announcing to them and they telling one another of the coming of
MuQ.ammad. Mubammad was in turn commanded by God to bestow
this primordial prophetic inheritance on his own family beginning
with <Ali Ibn Abi Talib. For God continued, 'Verily I shall never let
cease the Knowledge and Faith ... from your progeny as I did not let
them cease in the households of the prophets who were between you
and your father Adam. ' 25
Indeed, the imiims are identified with esoteric knowledge itself,
evident in the assertion that the 'words' that Adam received from God
were the names of the five sinless ones (ma<~umun). The fifth Imiim,
moreover, declared to one of his disciples, 'We are the knowledge of
God and the treasurers of His revelations. ' 26
In popular tradition, proclamation to a prophet of the coming imiims
and especially of the tragedy ofKarbala 1 is always linked to the central
event in the prophet's life. This is no more than a dramatic con-
cretization of sacred esoteric tradition. In the case of Adam, it was
linked first to the beginning of his prophetic knowledge, and then to
the beginning of his earthly existence, after he had lost the paradisial
state of pristine innocence. Furthermore, by means of this revelation
of the House ofSorrows and his place in it, Adam was restored to true
humanity, the prophetic existence of the pure ones (asjiyii 1) of God.
For the religious person every event or thing can be, symbolically or
actually, a link with sacred time and space. This will to sacralize the
world in its entirety, often unconscious, has led religious men and
women throughout the ages to defy rational or even religious logic,
sparing no object or event, no matter how trivial it may seem, from
providing a symbol of the sacred. The examples of the participation of
ancient prophets in the drama of Karbala 1 are a clear instance of this
process. In fact, the more fantastic a story is, the better it serves to
provide free rein for popular pietistic imagination.
When Noah, the second major heir to the prophetic gift after Adam,
was ordered to build the ark, the angel Gabriel brought him both the
plan of the ark and the nails with which to construct itY Five of these
nails shone like the sun, and Noah found great joy and consolation in
beholding four of them, but sorrow and despondency in the fifth. He
asked the angel why, and was told that the nails symbolized the
Prophet Mubammad, his cousin and son-in-law <Ali, his daughter
Fatimah, the radiant one (al-Zahrii 1), and their two sons, J:Iasan and
J:Iusayn. In his sorrow Noah unconsciously anticipated the great
wrong (:?ulm) and calamity (musJbah) that would befall the man sym-
bolized by the fifth nail.
Noah's life is further linked with I:Iusayn. His ark floated smoothly
over the waters of the flood until suddenly, caught by the raging wind
and waters, it began to sway violently. The occupants within thought
that they were doomed to drowning as punishment for a sin they had
committed of which they were not aware. Noah complained to God
of this unexpected punishment and learned that the ark was passing
over the land of Karbala 1 where the grandson of the Seal of the
Prophets, J::Iusayn, would be martyred at the hands of the most wicked
men: for this reason the ark was troubled. Noah wept for the death of
the Imiim and cursed his murderers and the ark went safely on to its
resting place on the mountain. This happened, we are told on the
authority of the sixth Imam, on the day of<Ashura 1 2M It is irrelevant that
the ancient prop~et, already told ofKarbalii 1, needed a reminder; the
aim ofboth stories is to link the event ofKarbala 1 to the flood. In this
way all of history enters into sacred history by participating in its
central event.
For Muslims, Abraham was the first major prophet ofthe second
humanity, the humanity after the deluge. He was the father of the
monotheistic faiths, an apostle with power, one of the ulU a[-<azm, 29
and a friend of God: therefore he participates more directly and fully in
the sorrows of the holy household (ahl al-bayt). In his case, popular and
sacred traditions merge as he presents too close an analogy with the
sacred drama of martyrdom to allow much room for hagiography.
Yet we are told that he was shown all the kingdoms of the earthao and
that beneath the throne of majesty he saw the five holy ones as forms
of light praising and extolling God. 31 He was told of the impending
tragedy and he wept.
Abraham, however, enters fully into the House ofSorrows through
what we may call the Abrahamic sacrifice. On the authority of the
sixth and eighth Imiims, although God commanded Abraham to slay
the paradisial lamb instead of his son Ishmael, Abraham wished he
could slay his own sol'). so that his heart might experience the grief of a
father who slays the dearest of his children. In an interesting and
highly dramatic dialogue between God and Abraham, 32 the latter
expresses bitter grief for the martyrdom of I:Iusayn and declares it to
be more painful to him than the slaying of Ishmael with his own
hands. As the Holy Family is held by theShN community to be dearer
than wealth and life, so too were they regarded by the ancient prophet.
Furthermore, by the Abrahamic sacrifice the friend (khal'il) of God

was not intended to demonstrate trust and obedience to his Lord, but
rather to link through sorrow his own prophetic mission to the imams
and their sorrows, in spite of the implicit demand in the Qur>anic text 33
for obedience. The sacrifice, central in Islam, is here given a secondary
place. Abraham wishes to slay his son with his own hand not because
of the divine command in itself but rather to share in the sorrows of
Mul}ammad for his grandson, the martyred Imiim. Note the comment
of Majlisi:
The ransoming oflshmael by a great sacrificial victim may refer to
the ransoming of the grief of Abraham that he would have had for
his son by his grief for I:Iusayn as though he would have slain his
own son with his own hand. For our imams are more noble (ashraj)
than the prophets with power (ulii al-<azm) and therefore nobler still
than all other prophets. 34
On a still more popular level Abraham, like Adam, is made to share
concretely in the pain of the martyred Imam. Riding his horse one day,
Abraham passed through KarbaJa>. At the spot where I::lusayn's blood
was to be shed, he fell offl;lis horse, suffering a deep wound in his head, .
and his blood gushed out. He begged divine forgiveness and said,
'What sin have I committed now?' Gabriel came down and said to
him, 'You have committed no sin, but here will be killed the descen-
dant of the seal of the prophets and son of the seal of the vicegerents
(aw~iya>) and your blood has flowed in emulation of his blood.'
Abraham asked who the murderer would be and was told, 'He is the
accursed oft~e dc'nizens of the heavens and the earths and the pen has
moved of its own accord on the tablet cursing him without permission
of its Lord. God however revealed to the pen that "You have deserved
approbation for this deed".' Abraham lifted his hands up to heaven
and cursed Yazid at length; his horse responded with 'Amen'.
Abraham asked the beast, 'What have you understood to agree thus
with my invocations?' The horse answered in clear speech that it was
honored to have the Prophet ride on it and ashamed to have thrown
him off, but that it also shared the grief for I:Iusayn and wished its
master to share in the pain. 35
Abraham's first born, Ishmael, the ransomed child and ancestor of
the Arabian Prophet and his family, was also informed of the tragedy
ofKarbala>. His sheep, grazing the banks of the Euphrates, refused to
eat or drink on the spot ofKarbala>. Ishmael asked Gabriel the reason
for the animals' unusual behavior, and was told to ask the sheep. The
sheep spoke to him, relating the grievous event to come and their
sorrow for the Imam, thus refusing to drink and eat on the spot where
I:Iusayn would die thirsty and hungry with no o.ne to lend him
support.
The stories of Abraham and his son, Ishmael, demonstrate the
universal tragedy of Mubarram and the superiority of animals over
men in their knowledge of, and grief for, the wronged Imam and his
family. Animals, because they are irrational creatures, possess a kind
of mysterious knowledge; more than any human being, they can claim
to be innocent of the blood of the martyrs, or even of approving the
wrong done them. Animals do, as we shall see, share fully in the
suffering and fighting on the behalf of the Imam. Not only animals and
birds but all of nature and even the elements participate in the House of
Sorrows.
Since Moses, the interlocutor of God (Kallm Allah), received a fuller
revelation of the martyrdom ofKarbala> than all the prophets before or
after him until Mubammad; his story contains a summary statement
of the entire tradition concerning f:lusayn 's missjon and martyrdom.
A long descriptive narrative directly from God tells him of the suf-
ferings and hardships off:lusayn and his family, the manner in which
f:lusayn will be killed, an.d the great torments awaiting his murderers.
The Mosaic tradition under consideration displays all the charac-
teristics of a pietistic tradition read into the mouth of a venerable
ancient prophet. The tradition, moreover, is linked with the inter-
cessory privileges of Moses and is regarded as an integral part of his
sacred revelation. 36
Jesus (<Jsa) and John the Baptist (Yahya), son of Zechariah
(Zakarlyya), occupy a prominent place in the House ofSl rows. Jesus,
although not martyred according to Islam, still was wronged and
rejected by his people, and in the end was saved through direct divine
intervention. A discussion of the signs and portents accompanying the
death of a prophet or an imam ascribed to the fifth Imam, Mubammad
al-Baqir, mentions him:
On the night that <Ali was killed, under every stone that was turned
there was found congealed blood. The same thing happened also
when Aaron (Hariin), brother of Moses, and Joshua, son of Niin,
were killed; when Jesus was liften up to heaven, and when Simon
Peter (Sham<un al-~afo) and f:lusayn, son of<Ali, were killed. 37
Jesus was the son of the pure virgin (batul) Mary, the mistress of
women. Mary was pious and poor, and was sustained by God as a sign
of His special favor and mercy to her. Fa~imah the radiant, 'the great
Mary' (al-Maryam al-Kubrii), 38 shares these characteristics in Islamic
piety, as we shall see later in this chapter. Jesus is therefore, in some
sense, the brother ofl:lusayn. The latter cannot claim virgin birth, but
they share a miraculous nativity in that they were in the womb for
only six months. A few traditions attribute this miraculous nativity to
John the Baptist as well. In fact, the two personalities ofJesus and John
often tend to merge into one figure closely analogous to that of
f:lusayn in popular piety.
As Jesus, we are told, was roaming the wilderness with his disciples,
he came upon Karbala>. On the exact spot where the Imiim was to be
killed, a lion blocked their path. Jesus spoke to the beast, asking why
he would not let them pass. The lion answered in clear speech, saying,
'Here will be killed the descendant (sib() of Abmad (Mubammad) and I
vrill not let you pass until you curse his murder~rs.' The Prophet
inquired about who his murderer would be and was told, 'He is the
accursed of the inhabitants of heavens and earth, of the beasts of the
fields and the fish of the sea, he is Yazid.' Jesus lifted up his hands to
heaven, cursed the evil man and his accomplices four times; the
disciples responded with 'Amen', and the lion bowed his head rever-
ently and let them pass. 39
In another tradition, a group of gazelles were grazing in Karbala> as
Jesus approached the spot where l:lusayn was to be killed. The animals
sat in lamentation of the Imam's death and related its details to Jesus.
Jesus thereupon envisioned the tragic event himself, described it viv-
idly and enjoined his own people to lend support to the martyred
Imam. This tradition is especially important, because <Ali is supposed
to have found the manure of those same gazelles. 40
SomeShN extremists went so far as to make l:lusayn son ofFatimah
like Jesus son of Mary in every respect. Thus I:Iusayn is depicted

as raising the dead, and if he did not speak in the cradle, 41 he praised
God in the womb and later made an infant speak in order to reveal
its mother's adultery. 42 Still other Sh'N extremists have gone on to
declare, that, like Jesus, I:Iusayn did not die but "'.:as taken up to
heaven.
ShN tradition links John the Baptist, Yabya son of Zechariah, with
I:Iusayn as well. His whole life was a protest against human folly and
the love of rn.aterial possessions. Although he was martyred, he con-
tinued to the end to reproach the wicked king 43 for his evil deeds.
John's father, Zechariah, a pious dweller of the house of God who
spent his old age in prayers and worship, was taught the names of the
five members of the Holy Family. Whenever he mentioned or recalled
the first four names, his sorrow left him; for in them he found
consolation and relie( When he mentioned the fifth, his heart became
heavy and his eyes welled up with tears. When he complained of this to
God, he received in answer the letterskafha ya <ayn~ad. 44 The meaning
of these letters was asked of the twelfth Imam during his lesser con-
cealment. After relating the story ofYabya, he said' ... the kaf stands
for KarbaJa>, theha refers to the annihilation (halak) of the pure family,
the ya symbolizes Y azid the murderer of I:Iusayn, the <ayn is his
(l:lusayn's) thirst (<a(ash) and the~ad is his patience or endurance (~abr).'
The twelfth Imam then continued, 'Thus Zechariah begged his Lord to
grant him a son to be his heir, whom he should love exceedingly. Then
God would allow him to be grieved for his son's martyrdom as would
Mubammad for the martyrdom of his son I:Iusayn.' The Imam con-
cluded, 'Y abya was in the womb for six months and so was I:Iusayn. He
was slain as l:lusayn was also, and the heaven and the earth wept for no
one else but them. 045
<Ali Zayn at-<Abidin, the fourth Imam and only surviving son of
I:Iusayn, said that on their way to Karbala> his father often spoke of
Yabya, repeating, 'It is indeed indicative of the worthlessness of this
world in the eyes of God that the head ofYabya, son ofZechariah, was
presented to a reprobate (bagh'i) from among the children oflsrael. ' 46
He then recounts, on the authority of his father, the story of the
Prophet's struggle against the wicked king and his final vindica-
tion. 47
The privation and poverty of ahl al-bayt and their Javor with God 37
1.3 THE PRIVATION AND POVERTY OF Ahl al-Bayt AND THEIR FAVOR
WITH Goo
It was argued at the beginning of this discussion that suffering has its
own merit with God, that it is the road to salvation for the man of faith
and that it is good in itself as a means of purification of the soul and a
test of the faith of the pious. Humility before God can be most deeply
expressed through patient endurance of suffering by the man of faith.
For the people of the Prophet's household, this meant the endurance of
poverty and hunger, persecution and privation, and finally the cup of
martyrdom as the seal of their struggle Uihiid) in the way of God. Yet,
as we shall see, the reward was already present in the promise of
comfort and bliss, riches and vindication, and even a foretaste of the
fruits of paradise here on earth. The interplay of sorrow and joy,
privation and plenty, humility and exaltation characterizes the holy
family's life in this world's House of Sorrows.
One day, in the house ofUmm Salamah (according to the Sht<ah,
favorite wife of the Prophet), the Prophet lay down to rest under a
mantle (kisa>). First his grandchildren l:lasan and l:lusayn came and lay
down with hi~. Then <AJi and Fa~imah followed. When all five of
them were under the mantle, the Prophet sat up, gathered the mantle
over them all and exclaimed, '0 Lord, these are my family; take away
from them all uncleanness and purify them with a great purification. ' 4R
Thus they became known as 'the people of the cloak' (ahl al-kisii>). 49
The cloak has become, in Shl''i tradition, a vivid symbol of the unity
of the family of the Prophet in sorrow and joy, in suffering and the
bliss of paradise, and above all in the prophetic inheritance. They are
seen as heirs to prophetic knowledge and leadership (imiimah) and
sharers in the sorrows and sufferings, persecution and ~artyrdom
which have been the lot of prophets from the beginning of human
history. Martyrdom, according to a report attributed to Ka<b al-
Abbar, ' ... opened with Abel and closed with I:Iusayn'. 50 .I:Iusayn,
however, was by no means the last martyr of the Holy Family: we are
told that all the imams, except the twelfth, were martyrs. 51 All martyrs
in the way of God, before and after I:Iusayn, are partakers in his
martyrdom; he is known in ShN as well as Sunn'i tradition as the prince
of martyrs (sayyid al-shuhada>).
Another tradition set in a similar context of family intimacy, in

many reports joined to the story of the cloak, portrays most dramat-
ically the unity of the household of the Prophet in affliction. The tragic
tale was related by 1Ali Zayn aJ-IAbidin, who heard it on the battlefield
from his aunt, Zaynab, sister of Imiim I:Iusayn; she in turn heard it
from Umm Ayman, and verified it with her father, 1Ali, on his
deathbed. 52
One day the Prophet visited his daughter Fatimah, who made
har'irah, a kind of custard, for him. 1Ali brought a tray full of dates, and
Umm Ayman brought some curd and butter in an earthen vessel.
When they had all eaten, the Prophet washed his hands and performed
his ablutions while 1Ali poured the water for him. Then he faced the
qiblah in prayer and thanksgiving to God. He lifted his eyes to heaven
for a long while and then prostrated himself on the ground. His body
became increasingly tense. With his face still to the ground, he sobbed
aloud, and all those around him wept for his weeping. When he sat up,
1Ali: and Fatimah asked him, '0 Apostle of God, what makes you sob
so? May God never cause your eyes to weep. That which we see of
your situation has broken our hearts.' He answered that he was
rejoicing, thankful to God for his family; but the angel Gabriel had
come down to him and said:
0 Mubammad, God, blessed and exalted be He, has seen what is in
your heart and has known your joy in your brother (1Ali), your
daughter, and your two [grand]children, and has therefore com-
pleted His favor to you. He has gladdened your heart with His gift
in that He made them, those who love them and their followers
(Shi\Jh) to be with you in paradise. They shall be loved as you are
loved and favored until you will all be contented. Yet with all this
they shall all be afflicted in this world with many persecutions and
hardships at the hands of men who shall hypocritically profess your
religion (millah) and claim to be of your community (ummah). It is
God's choice (kh'irah) for you that their places of martyrdom shall be
many and their graves distant. Give praise to God, therefore, for His
choice and accept His decree (qaqa>). 53
Gabriel told the Prophet of 1Ali's martyrdom at the hands of the most
wicked of God's creatures, far from his home. The angel described
with moving vividness the lot of I:Iusayn and his companions. He

predicted the establishment of the shrine of the lmiim in KarbaliP and
the role this shrine would play in the lives of the pious. The angel,
moreover, recounted the lot of the followers of the Holy Family and
their enemies on the Day ofResurrection. Off;fusayn specifically he
says,
And your son ... will be killed with a group of your own descen-
dants and some of the elect of your community in a land called
Karbala' on the banks of the Euphrates. For the sake of this land,
sorrow (karb) will be multiplied for your enemies and the enemies of
your progeny on a day whose remorse and sorrow will never
cease. 5 4
This tradition may be read either as a fantastic tale of rationalization,
the product of an oppressed people, or as a story with profound
symbolic significance for human life. Suffering, according to this
tradition, must accompany divine favor and high status with God, not
only for the martyrs themselves but also for all those who choose to
share their lot. With the Great Martyr, they will enter into the House
ofSorrows, which becomes a bridge to paradise, the garden {jannah) of
the prophets.
The cloak (kisii'). when viewed in the light of this tradition, becomes
itself the House of Sorrows and a symbol of infinite grace for the
sorrowful family and their friends.I:Iusayn's martyrdom is cosmically
significant, as the tradition just cited tells us, because he is the 'fifth of
the people of the cloak' (khiimis a_s.hiib al-kisii'). The mere existence of
the people of the cloak on earth is considered to be a divine favor (luif).
When the Prophet died, four were left in whom men found grace and
consolation; and they found it in each one of them after the death of
another, for the presence of one was like the presence of all. When
I:Iusayn died, however, there was no one left of the five, and thus his
death was like the death of all of them. 55
A short prophetic sermon or monologue delivered by the Prophet
to his companions and the Muslim community ofMedina 56 tells of the
suffering of the four people of the cloak individually in some detail.
This tradition reveals not only the persecution of the Holy Family, but
also their high station with God and theProphet's love for them. The
persecutors are even more roundly condemned in this account, for

they knew what kind of people they were going to wrong and they
knew that their punishment would match the gravity of their act.
It is related on the authority oflbn 'Abbas that the Prophet was one
day sitting with his companions when I:Iusayn came to him. He
looked at the child and wept, embraced him and seated him on his left
leg. Then l:lasan came and the Prophet, seeing him, wept and seated
him on his right leg. Fatimah and <An then followed and he looked at
them and wept. His companions, wondering at this, asked why he
wept as he saw each one of them. He said: 'These are the noblest
among God's creatures and most beloved of Him and of me. ' 57 He
then recounted the wrongs <Ali would experience after him: he would
be deprived of the seat (that is, the seat of authority: khiliifah) for which
God had chosen him; he would continue to be opposed and troubled
until struck on the head with a sword so that his beard was bathed in
his own blood (and this during Ramadan, the holiest of months). Both
portents form a precise account of the tragic career of<Ali seen from
the Shi'l point of view.
The tradition of the Prophet then goes on to describe the privation,
persecution, and wrongs that Fatimah was to suffer at the hands of
prominent members of the Muslim community. Fatimah is usually
depicted in Sh';<; sources as a bitter woman who spent her last days
mourning the death of her father and refusing any contact with the
outside world. Her sufferings and final death constitute the first
tragedy of Islam and the cult that grew up around her personality is
not limited to the Shl"i community alone. The tradition that we are
considering here must be regarded as a later account read back into the
mouth of the Prophet, albeit one that is generally accepted with minor
variations by Muslims. The events leading to her death as seen by
Islamic piety will be discussed later in this chapter. sM
Of l:lasan, the tradition reports that the Prophet said he would be
deprived ofhis inheritance, the caliphal office, after his father, stabbed
by those claiming to be his supporters, and finally martyred by poison-
ing. The heavens and the earth would mourn him, and the eyes of
those who weep for him will not be blinded on that day when many
eyes will be blinded.
Speaking ofl:lusayn, the tradition quotes Mul}.ammad as follows:
As for I:Iusayn, he is flesh of my flesh and blood of my blood; he is

my son, my child, and the best of creatures after his brother. He is
the Imiim of the Muslims, the master of the faithful and rep-
resentative (khalifah) of the Lord of the worlds. He is helper of them
that call for help, the cave [refuge] for those who seek refuge, and
the Proof of God for all His creatures. He is the master of the youths
of paradise and the gate to the salvation of the community (ummah ).
His commands are my commands, and obedience to him is like
obedience to me. He who obeys him is of my people and he who
disobeys him is not. Thus when I saw him I recalled what will be
done to him after me. I see him taking refuge in my sanctuary
(haram) but no one will come to his support. I shall then press him to
my bosom in his dream and order him to depart from the home of
my migration (hijrah). I shall announce to him his martyrdom in the
land of sorrow (karb) and calamity (baJa>) and of death and annihi-
lation. A small number of the faithful will come to his aid; these are
the masters of the martyrs of my community on the Day ofResur-
rection. I can see him shot with an arrow and falling dead off his
horse. Then will he be slain like a lamb. 59
Clearly, in traditions such as this and the others previously cited, much
later history and interpretation has been read back into the mouth of
the Prophet, his immediate companions, and members of his family.
Yet these Sh;ll traditions can claim authenticity, since most are related
on the authority of one or another oftheimiims, or by a close relative of
the Prophet. The tradition just considered is a very early one; 60 it and
others of this sort have served as bases for the development of the
Mul)arram cult and are still recited or paraphrased in the ta<zryah
majiilis.
Led by the imams themselves, the pious looked to the life and sayings
of the Prophet and his immediate family for traditions to guide them
on their own journey along the Via Dolorosa, the road of suffering and
humiliation leading to the eternal bliss of paradise. The poor and
destitute found in the life of the Holy Family an example of endurance
amid poverty and hunger; the sickness and privation of Fatimah the
radiant provided solace and hope for the sick and deprived.
Many traditions mention the hunger and poverty of the Holy
Family, yet almost all insist that poverty is the adornment of the pious,
especially of the members of the house of prophethood (bayt al-
nubUwwah). God always proves their favor through a miracle of
plenty, and not only they but also the neighborhood are fed. The
tradition is not unlike Jesus feeding the multitudes; and to some extent
they serve a similar function, assuring a hungry people of divine favor
and compassion.
The Prophet one day came to his daughter in search of something to
eat, having had nothing for three days. She sadly admitted that she had
nothing to offer, and that the family was also hungry. When one of the
neighbors sent her a dish with two loaves and a piece of meat, she
called the Prophet to eat. She uncovered the dish to find enough food
for all of them and their neighbors. The Prophet asked his daughter,
'My daughter ... how comes this to thee?' 'From God', she said. The
Prophet beamed with joy and exclaimed, 'Praise be to God who made
you like the mistress of the women of the world among the women of
the children of Israel in her time.... ' 61
I The many traditions surrounding the hunger and poverty of the
Prophet's family serve several purposes for the pious. They are usually
recalled, with elaborate embellishments and a wealth of emotion, at
the sessions (majalis) of ta<ziyah where people vicariously share the
feelings of hunger and privation with the Holy Family. They can feel
that in their own sufferings they are sharing in the sufferings of the
Holy Family.~Later, when circumstances allow, the pious give for the
-Holy Family's sake, in emulation of their generosity. 62
Tales such as those that we have been considering convey no
theological or metaphysical ideas, yet they provide the basis for many
mystical and gnostic notions. We cannot deal with these ideas here, as
we are concerned mainly with the popular piety from which such
esoteric doctrines arose. 6."1 It must be observed, however, that while no
systematic thought on the character of the Holy Family is present in
the popular literature under consideration, much .that was recorded
more systematically is based on, or even found in, popular piety. This
will become amply clear in our discussion of the imamate in the
following chapter.
Shc"i thought, popular as well as theological, has claimed that in
many of the verses describing the believers and their virtues, the
The privation and poverty of ahl al-bayt and their favor with God 43
Qur>an refers first and foremost to ahl al-bayt, then to their followers
(the Shran', 64 the living Word in the true sense of this expression. Their
lives and deeds are the exegesis (ta>wll) of the Holy Book. We are told
that the surah entitled Man (al-Insiin) was revealed to describe them, for
they truly fulfilled its exhortations. 65
The actual application of the Qur>anic text to the Holy Family is
contained in the following hagiographical tale. I:Iasan and I:Iusayn one
day fell ill, and the Prophet came with all his companions to see them.
He suggested to 1Ali that he make a vow to God so that the children
might be brought back to health. 1Ali and Fa~imah, their maid Fic;ic;iah
and even the two children vowed to fast for three days if God would
grant health to them. On the first day, they had nothing in the house
with which to break their fast that evening. So <Ali went to a Jewish
weaver called Sham 1iin (Simon) and asked for a bundle of wool for the
daughter of Mubammad to spin in return for three bushels of barley
and a tray of dates. She spun one third of the wool and baked one
bushel of the barley, making five loaves, one for each of them. When
they sat down to eat, <Ali was the first to break bread. Before he had
time to put food into his mouth, however, a poor man came to the
door and said, 'Peace be upon you, 0 household ofMubammad; I am
one of the poor of the Muslims. Give me some of what you are eating;
may God feed you at the tables of paradise.' 1Ali put down the piece of
bread and said to his wife, '0 Fatimah, you woman of approbation and
certainty of faith, 0 daughter of the best of men, see you not this
destitute standing at our door with a sorrowful cry complaining to us
of his hunger ... ?' She answered, 'Your order will be obeyed, 0
cousin of mine, for in me there is neither malice nor miserliness. Now
will I feed him without worry, by this seeking only the grace of
intercession into paradise.' She then gave the poor man all that was
before them and they slept hungry that night, having tasted nothing
but water.
The next day she prepared their evening meal (ift.iir) as she had the
day before, but this time an orphan stood at the door and repeated the
words of the poor man of the previous evening. <Ali addressed his
wife, saying, '0 Fa~imah, daughter of the magnanimous one, 0
daughter of the Prophet who is not tight-fisted, God has sent us this
orphan, and he who shows mercy today will be shown mercy tomor-
row. His reward will be the paradise ofbliss which God has prohibited
to the hard-hearted.' With sadness, but still greater chivalry, she
answered, 'I shall give to him with no care, leaving my own children
to the providence of God, for they, my two young lions, will sleep
hungry.'
When they had sat to eat on the third day, an Arab captive stood at
the door and spoke reproa.chfully, 'You capture us, bind us fast, and yet
do not feed us'. <Ali:, moved by this remark, addressed his wife, '0
Fa~imah, daughter of the Prophet A]:lmad ... here is a captive in
chains complaining to us ofhis hunger. He who feeds today will find
his reward tomorrow with the most high, the most glorious.' Fa~imah
this time raised a sorrowful supplication: 'All we have left is the bread
of one bushel which I feebly kneaded and baked with my own hand.
On my head I have no veil and all I have is a cloak which I have
woven.' She bemoaned her poverty: 'These are my children; 0 Lord,
behold they are hungry. Let me not lose them.... ' She gave to
the captive all that they had and they went hungry for the third
day.ss
The next day the Prophet called to see them and was despondent at
their plight. He prayed God to provide for them, and his prayer and
those of the three destitute men were immediately answered. The
angel Gabriel came down with a golden dish inlaid with precious
stones and filled with meat and sweets of paradise. They all ate to
satiation and the food was not diminished.
Popular tales like this one must have an end. They must answer the
simple question which anyone hearing the tale would ask: namely,
what happened to the heavenly table? It was taken back to heaven
because f:lusayn sought unknowingly to give some of the heavenly
food to outsiders. A Jewish woman saw him playing in the streets with
a piece of the blessed food in his hand. In amazement she exclaimed,
'You the family of hunger and need, where do you get such things;
give me this to eat.' As the child stretched out his hand to give her the
sacred substance, the angel came down, snatched the food from his
hand, took the magic dish, and returned to heaven. The Prophet could
then say, 'By God, had he [I:Iusayn] not wanted to give her the food,
the dish would have remained with my descendants, undiminished to

eat from until the Day of Resurrection. ' 67
The verses which this tale fulfills read, ' ... they give food, for the
love ofHim, to the needy, the orphan, the captive; "We feed you only
for the Face of God; we desire no recompense from you, no thank-
fulness ... " . ' 68 The exegete who transmits this tradition comments,
'By God, they said nothing of this to the three men, rather it was the
intention of their hearts. ' 69
It was not the lack of charity that caused the food to disappear
finally, but rather the food itself and the logic of such tales: the food
was a supernatural substance and could be eaten only by the people for
whom it was intended. The tale, moreover, had to account for its
disappearance and answer a simple question. It must be added that this
tale is a very early one; the writer of al-Maniiqib transmits it on many
authorities, both Sunnl and ShN exegetes. Shaykh Saduq relates this
story on the authority of the imiims in a memorial service (majlis) held
in Safar 368/978-9. 70
The friends (awl'iyii~ of God enjoys a nearness to Him which often
borders on free intimacy. God feeds and clothes them; He flames with
anger for their sufferings at the hands of men; He exults with pride of
them before His angels. The two children of the House of Sorrows
used to play with Gabriel, the emissary of God to men, often jumping
on the angel's shoulders and pulling all the pranks oflittle children. At
such times the angel assumed the form of Da]Jya al-Kalbi, the most
handsome man of his time. One day as the two little boys were
prancing around the angel, he stretched out his hand as though reach-
ing for something, and handed them an apple, a pomegranate71 and a
quince. The Prophet told them to take the fruits and share them with
their parents. He later joined them and they all ate of the fruit; but
whatever they ate was miraculously replaced. Thus the three fruits of
paradise remained as they were after the death 'Of the Prophet, and
neither changed nor diminished until Fa~imah died. With her death the
pomegranate disappeared. I::Iusayn, the authority of this tradition, said
that when his father <Ali was martyred, the quince also disappeared,
but the apple remained as it had been. So when I::Iasan was poisoned,
only the original apple remained: it was in I::Iusayn's possession, but
the tradition implies that it had lost the power to multiply itself
I:Iusayn used to smell it whenever he faced hardship and found in it

much consolation and relief. When he was prevented from reaching
the waters of the Euphrates at Karbala>, he smelled it both for relief and
to quench his thirst. An hour before he died, his son <All Zayn
al-<Abidin saw him biting it in desperation, a sign that his death was
near. After his father's death, he sought the apple but could not find
any trace of it. He asserted, however, that its sweet fragrance con-
tinued to emanate from his father's tomb, and only the sincere fol-
lower of the Holy Family can smell it before dawn. 72
Fruits are the food of paradise and a sign of divine favor or blessing
(barakah ). It is implied in the tradition just considered that the angel
gave the Holy Family the actual fruits of paradise, enabling them to
partake of the blessings of the heavenly garden even in the present life;
blessings that in the end will be theirs to enjoy forever and to grant to
their sincere followers. The barakah and favor they found with God
flows beyond the small community of the faithful, proclaiming to the
world the miraculous power of the Holy Family. No tradition is
complete in its purpose, however, if it does not express the particular
sufferings of the Holy Family as well as the suffering of all things with
them. As we see here, the fragrance of the apple remained as a remin-
der to the pious of the sufferings and martyrdom ofimiim I:Iusayn; this
detail must be considered important to the purpose of this tradition.
For the pious devotees, this tradition and others like it provide a basis
for the special sanctity offruits, and more particularly for the three just
mentioned. One can still observe these fruits, when in season, being
distributed among the audience of the Mubarram memorial services.
Not only fruits, however, but trees and the earth itself share in the
blessings granted by God through the Holy Family, and are used to
express in some way or another their sufferings. 73 Each of the tradi-
tions here considered serves many purposes; most prominently, every
tale provides a portent or sign depicting one of the calamities of the
Holy Family.
Besides kindling the religious fervor of the pious, the traditions
dealt with so far serve yet another purpose. The special favors of
heavenly food to feed the Holy Family, the manner in which God
loved and cared for the 'People of the House', contrast sharply with
the cruel treatment they received at the hands of wicked men. This
divine favor and infinite love for the household of Mubammad is

manifested dramatically to the community of their followers through
hardships and afflictions. God created all things for their sake, yet He
chose that they be strangers in a world whose creation and subsistence
depended on them.
To be poor and hungry, wronged and finally martyred was the
Holy Family's lot and privilege. But God and His angels consoled
them and manifested their favor with God to the community, includ-
ing their persecutors. We are told in many traditions, as we shall see in
the third chapter of this study, that angels were heard rejoicing when
I:Iusayn was born and weeping when he cried as an infant.
As children, J:Iasan and J:Iusayn one day complained to their mother
that all their play~ates would have new clothes to wear for the IJd
(festival) while they would have none. Not wishing to disappoint
them, she told them that their clothes were still at the tailor's; when he
brought them, they would also have new clothes. The eve of the day of
festivities came and the clothes had not arrived. The children, after
reminding her once more, went to sleep sad and disappointed. In the
night, a man knocked at the door and said that he was the tailor
bringing the clothes for the children. The next day the Prophet
informed his daughter that the man of the night before was no tailor
but Rid wan, the angel, keeper of the treasures of paradise. 74
In another version of this tradition, the children went to the Prophet
complaining that they had no clothes for the <id festivities. The faithful
spirit, Gabriel, came down with two white garments of paradise for
them. The children, however, preferred bright colors, so the angel
poured water on the garments while the Prophet rubbed them with his
hands to bring out colors miraculously. Each of the two children chose
the color he wanted; J:Iasan chose green and J:Iusayn red. The angel
then told the Prophet the meaning of their choices. f;lasan chose green,
the color his own body would assume after drinking the poison which
w.ould kill him. I:Iusayn chose the color of blood, with which his body
would be bathed on the battlefield ofKarbala>. The Prophet grieved as
he heard the details of the impending tragedy of his family and
especially that of Karbala>. 75
The traditions we have been examining and others like them are
presented in the Mubarram memorial services (majiilis) to heighten the
emotions of the participants. It must be emphasized that those present

at such services are not an audience or mere spectators, but active
participants in the sacred drama. The significance of the services is not
obscured by the legendary or fantastic details that fill the stories; those
details constitute a living reality ever present in the lives of the pious, a
reality which grows more real with every succeeding generation. The
dramatic effect of these stories is sustained throughout by an element
of tension through contrast. In most of them privation is contrasted
with plenty, poverty with riches, weakness and humiliation with
revenge and vindication. Yet throughout the mood of sorrow and
suffering predominates; and reward, revenge and vindication are held
up as a promise for which the faithful feel an intense longing, ex-
pressed by their tears and outcries. Both the suffering and the promise
are interiorized by the participants who make them their own.l
1.4 THE SUFFERING AND DEATH OF FATIMAH THE RADIANT ONE,

MISTRESS OF THE HOUSE OF SORROWS
One of the most tragic characters in all of human history, according to

Sh"N piety, is Ei.timah al-Zahra>, the radiant one, who dwelt all her
short life in the House of Sorrows, becoming its mistress for all time
until the Day of Resurrection, the day ofher final vindication. She was
born to a despondent and rejected mother, who died shortly after her
birth. Fatimah died a martyr, and still dwells in the House of Sorrows
in paradise, lamenting her slain son, the angels sharing her grief. Thus
she will continue until the day of final reckoning when God Himself
will exact vengeance on those who wronged her.
We have already seen the pathetic description, attributed to the
Prophet, of her plight after his death. ShN tradition asserts that while
<Ali was busy preparing the Apostle of God for burial, the people
outside were busy wrangling over the question of succession
(khiliifah). For the Shf:is there is no doubt that <Ali was the rightful
successor to the Prophet, as proclaimed at the spring (ghadlr) of
Khumm shortly before the Prophet's death. When 1Ali: refused to
come out of the house and pledge allegiance (bay'ah) to Abu Bakr,
1Umar and the mob outside burnt the door ofhis house, threatening to
The suffering and death of Fiifimah the radiant one 49
burn the house over him and his family if he persisted in his opposi-
tion. Then Fatimah came to the door with disheveled hair and exposed
face, weeping and reproaching the companions of her father. She was
beaten and disgraced, and (Ali had to give bay<ah under duress.
Aft~r Abu Bakr became caliph, Fa~imah went to him to claim her
father's inheritance, the garden of Fadak outside Medina. Abu Bakr
protested that he had heard the Apostle of God say, 'We the prophets
neither inherit nor give inheritance. ' 76 She finally convinced him ofher
right to Fadak, but was met by (Umar on the way, who tore up the
deed Abu Bakr had written for her. 77 Thus the daughter of Mubam-
mad, soon after his death, began to suffer the wrong foretold by him.
She returned to her husband, complaining
Behold how the son of Abu Qubafah [Abu Bakr] has usurped from
me the inheritance of my father, and has shown me great hostility.
Thus the women of Medina }lave deserted me, and the women of
the immigrants (muhiijiriin) have withheld from me their support,
and the whole community has turned their eyes away from me; so I
have no supporter or protector. I left my home angry, and returned
coerced, and there is no choice for me. I wish I had died before my
humiliation, anq had passed away before my appointed time. Let
my complaint be to my Lord ... 0 my God! 0 my father! 0 God,
Thou art the most powerful. 78
Tradition indicates that Fatimah was a frail woman, often falling
asleep while turning the handmill to make bread for her family. In
such cases, an angel from heaven came to help her. One day the
Prophet came to her house and saw her grinding barley, clad in a
garment made of coarse camel wool. He looked at her and wept,
saying, '0 Fatimah bear patiently the bitterness of this world, for great
will be the bliss of the hereafter.' jabir b. (Abdallah al-An~ari, the
transmitter of this tradition, said, 'It was then that the verse, "Thy
Lord shall give thee, and thou shalt be satisfied", was revealed. ' 79
She desired one day to have a ring, and told her father of her wish.
He advised her to pray for one after her last evening prayer and surely
God would give it to her. When she woke up the next morning she
found a beautiful ring of sapphire under her pillow. The following
night, however, she dreamt that she was in paradise where she was
shown many palaces all richly decorated and made of precious stones.
She was told that all these palaces belonged to the daughter of
Mu}:Iammad. In one of them she saw a couch (sarir) made of sapphire
which was the same color as her ring. The couch, however, was
missing a leg. Inquiring about this, she was told that Fa~imah had
desired a ring, so it had been made of the missing leg of the couch. The
next day she related the dream to her father, who said, 'Daughter, God
has chosen for us the hereafter over this world. Return the ring tonight
putting it under your pillow, and it will be taken away.' Thus she
regretted showing any desire for the things of this world and the ring
was taken away from her.Ro
This story is self-explanatory. Whatever one desires of this world,
of that much will he be deprived in the next. The story, however,
illustrates yet another thing: the daughter ofMu}:Iammad, so poor and
destitute in this world, will be infinitely rich in the world to come; for,
even if she were to show desire for the material things of this world,
her riches in heaven are so great that she could not exhaust a fraction of
them.
Fatimah lived a short time after her father: according to various
traditions, six months, seventy-five days, or only forty days. HI She
spent her time lamenting her father's death until the people of Medina
protested to her husband that her constant weeping was disturbing
them. Instead she began to go by night to the graveyard and indulge in
weep mg.
According to many accounts, she died after a short illness; yet some
traditions, while admitting this, still iQ a different context assert that
she did not fall ill. Rather she felt her time to have come, and, not
wishing her two young children to witness her departure, she took
them by the hand to the mosque to stay a while with their father. Then
she returned home, washed herself with the remains of the Prophet's
burial ointments, shrouded herself, al).d laid down, facing the qiblah.
She told Asma>, daughter of<umays, her nurse, to call her three times
after an hour; if she did not answer, she would have departed to her
father. Asma> returned and called but there was no answer. She went
to the mosque and told <Ali, who fainted when he heard ofHtimah's
death. She had requested that no one pray over her except her hus-
band, and that she be buried secretly by night. In the mosque, <Ali
The suffering and death of FiiJimah the radiant one 51
prayed, '0 God, behold the daughter ofThy Prophet! Take her out of
the darkness into the light. ' 82 Immediately, a brilliant light shone from
the spot for many miles. In the Baqt< (the cemetery of Medina), as (Ali
and Abii Dharr approached with the body, a voice called out, 'To me,
to me, bring her to me!'113 Thereupon they found an open grave in
which they laid her. The earth flattened over it, so that no one knows
or shall know where her grave is until the Day of Resurrection.
PopuJar tradition asserted that Fa~imah died of a serious illness in
order to substantiate the reports about her beating and the consequent
miscarriage and illness of which she died. The Prophet also spoke of
Mary, mother ofjesus, who was to come to console and to nurse her in
her illness. It was also necessary, on the other hand, to emphasize the
miraculous aspects of her death to show her favor with God. That
could be done only by asserting not only that she voluntarily chose to
join her father, after whose death her life became one of suffering and
humiliation, but also that she chose the moment and manner of her
own death. Thus it has been related that she died while prostrate in
prayer. 114 In both cases, however, the heightened dramatic effect of the
tragedy is intended to allow the people to fully interiorize this event
and share in it. The apparent contradictions among various traditions
regarding Fatimah's death are of little significance to the faithful, as
long as the purpose of her life and death can be clearly seen.
It will be seen in the course of this study that the followers (ShPah) of
the imiims.. through their participation in the sufferings of the Holy
Family, become one with the sufferers. They are identified with the
imiims, as together they form the community of the elect. A fairly early
writer quotes a statement of the sixth Imam,ja(far al-Sadiq, expressing
unequivocally this unity of the imiims and their followers .
. . . and God created the spirits of our followers (ShPah) from our
own clay, and their bodies from another lump of clay, well guarded
under His throne, but less exalted than ours. Yet God gave no share
of that of which they were created to anyone except the prophets.
Thus we and they are truly humans and the rest of mankind savages,
and are destined to the fire. Rs
This attitude of superiority over one's oppressors has characterized
many persecuted communities. Examples are not difficult to find
throughout many periods in the history of the Jews and the early
Christian church. That ShN Muslims have always, in varying degrees,
held this attitude is therefore not an unusual phenomenon.
The followers of the imams will share fully in the rewards that are to
be granted to the members of the House of Sorrows in the world to
come. Like the wronged imams, they have borne patiently the hard-
ships, sufferings and persecutions for their loyalty to the House of
Mul).ammad. The Shi<l community, in renewing every year the mem-
ory of the martyred Imam and his family and friends, renews its own
covenant with the imams, a covenant which is identified with the
primordial trust (amanah) 116 that God offered to all of creation, but
which only man accepted. This amiinah, as we shall sec later, is inter-
preted by the ShN community to be the imamate of the twelve imams.
For this reason, to understand fully the role off::lusayn in the drama of
suffering and redemption, some attention must be given to the con-
cept and role of the imams in popular Ithna<asharl Shz<ism. The fol-
lowing discussion of the imamate will also illuminate much of what
has already been said, and put the life of Imam f::lusayn and his mar-
tyrdom in its proper context.
2
The Proofs of God

Ifujaj Allah 1
We have attempted in the previous chapter of this study to depict the

family of Muhammad in their role as members of the House of
Sorrows and their high status as the friends (awliya >) of God and His
elect. The imams, like prophets and other great personalities in man's
religious history, are seen by the Sht<i community at one and the same
time as humiliated and exalted, poor yet infinitely rich, persecuted and
sorrowful, yet possessing both authority and bliss. Although they
were finally martyred, for their sake the universe and all life was
created. Through their suffering and martyrdom, the imams will man-
ifest their glory and authority on the last day. Their sufferings have
confronted humanity with the choice of eternal bliss or damnation.
The imiims, who are the friends (awllyii>) of God, are also His khulafo 1,
His vicegerents and representatives on earth, and the guardians ofHis
revelation. It is this aspect of the concept and role of the imiims that we
shall explore in the present chapter.
First, we shall examine the creation of the imiims: the manner of their
creation and the substance from which they were created. We shall
then consider their relationship to God and the world, and their place
in the history of divine revelation or communication with mankind.
The questions that concern us here are, first, the place of the imams
within the divine covenant with man, or what we may call the initial
revelation or primordial trust (amiinah) that God offered to all creation
before the world was made; second, the relation of the imams to actual
revelations, especially the Qur1an, as well as their relations to the
prophets, especially to the Prophet Muhammad (both as his descen-
dants and as heirs to his prophetic mission and secret knowledge); and
finally, the actual personality of the imiim, the signs ofhis imamate, and
his physical and spiritual characteristics. As in all other chapters of this
study, we are concerned with Sht<l piety as expressed in the sources we
are examining.
The purpose of this chapter is to provide the proper background for
54 The proofs of God
the discussion of the life, mission and death of Imam I:Iusayn. It is

important to emphasize a point that has already been stressed: namely,
that l:lusayn was from the beginning regarded by the Muslim com-
munity as much more than just a pious and virtuous man. He was the
grandson of the Prophet, and this gave him a special place in the
community and contributed much to the growth of the ideas and
devotional practices that his death inspired. Nevertheless, the cosmic
significance of his death, an idea that developed rapidly after his
martyrdom, is due to a great exteQt to his office as an imam. It is as a part
of his role as an imam that the sufferings and martyrdom of I;:Iusayn
have been regarded by the Shfli community as a source of redemption
for themselves, as well as a source ofjudgment and condemnation for
their opponents. This redemptive aspect of his suffering cannot be
understood properly without some idea of the role of the imams in the
history of salvation. Nor would the Shfli views on his miraculous
birth, his extraordinary life and his miraculous death be fully com-
prehended without such a background. Thus in this chapter we shall
prepare the way for a consideration of I;:Iusayn the Imam through an
investigation of the imamate itself in ShN Islam.
2.1 THE CREATION AND SuBsTANCE OF THE Imams
The imams, for Shfl'i Muslims, may be thought of as a primordial idea

in the mind of God which found temporal manifestation in persons
occupying a position midway between human and divine beings.
They are human, or created, beings in that they do not share in the
divine pre-eternal existence (azaliyyah) or eternal undying continuity
(abad'iyyah) of God; and, like all human beings, they are subject to
death and resurrection. Yet they were first conceived in God's mind as
a principle of order, harmony and goodness in the world; then they
were made substantial as luminous entities or conventicles of light
transmitted in the loins of prophets and wombs ofholy women until
they reached actualization in the Prophet Mu}:tammad. They were
then born as men through the 'Prince of the Faithful' and first Imam,
<Ali, and his wife, F:itimah, the daughter of Mu}:tammad.
The divine qualities of the imams may be clearly discerned in the
The creation and substance of the imams 55
many traditions recounting the manner of their creation and their

essential substance. Unlike other men, the imams were shaped not
of the dust of the earth, but were first created as forms of light
singing the praises of God long before the material world came
into being. In a long tradition, the Prophet addressed his daughter,
saying:
0 daughter! God, praised and exalted be He, cast a glance on the
inhabitants of the earth and chose your father and made him a
prophet. He cast a second glance and chose your husband, <Ali, and
made him a brother and vicegerent (wa~i) for me. He cast a third
glance and chose you and your mother and made you the two
mistresses of the women of the worlds. He cast a fourth glance and
chose your two sons and made them the two masters of the youths
of paradise.... 2
All things were created, we are told in the Qur>an, through the divine
Word (amr), 3 the divine fiat. Theimiims, however, were chosen through
the power of the divine eye. Thus it is not only the omnipotence of
God the creator and His sovereignty which are manifested in the
creation of the imams, but also His compassion and love. For in
creating the imams, God, so to speak, turned His face toward the
world, and His glance generated the Holy Family who are regarded as
the true source of divine mercy. The imams are therefore regarded in
Shr<l theological statements ofbelief(<aqldah) as an act of divine grace, 4
and the earth cannot be without an imam at any time. 5
The sixth Imam, Ja<far, declared, in answer to one of his disciples,
that if the earth were to be void of animiim, it would melt away with all
its inhabitants. 6 The imam, as we shall see more clearly below, is the
perfect man (al-insiin al-kamil) whose mere existence is necessary for
the subsistence of the world. In fact, the imam attained a much greater
religious significance very early in Shr<i tradition than the perfect man
ever did in later Sufism. 7
The many traditions that relate the actual creation of the imams,
although containing many variations and disparities in detail, all have
the same purpose: to show the exalted status of the imams and their
nearness to God. The sixth Imam, it is reported, related to one of his
disciples, Abu Ba~ir, the manner of the creation of the Prophet
Mul)ammad and the imiims in a divine saying (hadith qudsi), uttered

directly by God to Mul:tammad.
God said, '0 Mul)ammad! Verily I created thee and <Ali as two lights
[a spirit without body] before I created my heavens, throne, and the
ocean. You never ceased then from praising and glorifying me. I
then united your two spirits into one, and that also never ceased
from praising and sancti(ying me. I then divided the one spirit into
two and two into four: Mul)ammad, 1Ali, }:Iasan and l:lusayn.'
The Imam went on to say, 'Then God created Fa~imah from light, first
a spirit without a body, then He touched us with His right hand and
His light shone in us. H From the context of this tradition, it appears that
this last act, the manifestation of the divine light in the imams, is related
to their earthly existence.
We have already seen in the previous chapter of this study9 that the
imams were created before all things in the universe, and that they arc
greater than all creation. The tradition just cited goes a step further and
suggests that the imiims preceded even the divine manifestation itsel
They belong to that time before time was, to the time when God
Himself was in 'absolute self-obscurity', 10 before He had created His
throne, the locus ofHis majesty, encompassing the entire universe. 11
The imams are usually considered along with the great things of
creation: visible things such as the heavens, the earth and the great
ocean, and invisible things such as the throne of God, His angels and
the tablet and pen of destiny. The imiims are declared to be greater than
all the marvels of creation, which were created for their sake and
whose sustenance depends on their existence.
It is of course difficult, and not altogether justified by the un-
systematic nature of the materials examined in this discussion, to
attempt any systematic construction of the mode of creation of the
imams. On can say, however, that they existed as essences of divine
light before every created thing and then began to take form along
with the rest of creation. As creation proceeded, they also moved from
extremely subtle into more concrete forms. Even their human bodies
were created of a special substance long before their actual birth into
the world. Again Ja<far al-Sadiq, in describing this process of con-
cretization, said,
The place of the imams in human history 57
God created us from the light of His majesty and formed us from a
well guarded clay preserved under His throne. He then caused that
light to dwell in it [i.e., the clay]. Thus we became luminous humans
(bashar nuran'iyyiin) giving no share of the stuff of which we were
created to anyone. 12
2.2 THE PLACE oF THE Imams IN HuMAN HisToRY AND THEIR RELA-
TIONSHIP TO DIVINE REVELATION (Wa}Ji")
The imams are the heirs of the prophets and share in honor and favor
with God. They are the hidden meaning of the revealed word of which
they are a concrete personification. We have already seen how the
words of the Qur>an refer first to them and secondarily to others. 13
The sixth Imam goes a step further in this exegetical identification of
the Word with the person in a brief exegesis of the famous 'Light'
verse. 14 A disciple asked the meaning of the 'Light' verse, and the Imam
recited the verse with his commentary as follows:
Gop is the light of the heavens and the earth; the likeness ofHis light
is as a niche [Eitimah] wherein is a lamp [l:Iasan], the lamp in a glass
[f:Iusayn], the glass as it were a glittering star [Fatimah is like the
radiant star among the women of the world], kindled from a
Blessed Tree [Abraham], an olive that is neither of the East nor of
the West [neither jewish nor Christian] whose oil well nigh would
shine [knowledge is about to burst out from it], even if no fire
touched it; Light upon Light [an imam proceeding from it after
another imam]; God guides to His Light whom He will [God guides
through the imams whom he will]. 15
The imiims are not only symbols of the divine light or vessels through
which it shines; rather they are both light and vessel. 16 They are the
true shoots of the 'Blessed Olive Tree', Abraham, who himself per-
sonified the true faith, the pure (hanifJ religion free from the deviations
of East or West. Thus the imiims preserve in themselves the uncon-
taminated authenticity of divine, revelation and continue its history
unbroken. Finally, with the Qur,an, they are the instrument of divine
guidance. They are the 'speaking (nii(iq) Qur>an', the active or living
logos while the Qur>an is the 'silent' (~amit), immanent divine logos
whose understanding and application depend on them.
The imams, moreover, are the primordial covenant between God
and the world, and His charge (amanah) which He offered to the
heavens and the earth. The sixth Imam, Ja<far, again said, instructing
al-Mufa<;l<;lal, one of his chief disciples, on the meaning of the amanah
verse of the Qur 1an:
God [blessed and exalted be He] created the spirits [of men] two
thousand years before their bodies. He made the spirits ofMubam-
mad, <Ali, Fa!imah, I:Iasan and I:Iusayn and of the other imams the
highest and noblest of all. God then manifested them [i.e., the spirits
of the Holy Family] to the heavens, earth and mountains and their
light dazzled them. He then said to the heavens, earth and moun-
tains, 'These are my beloved ones, my friends (awliya 1), and my
proofs (hujaj) over my creation and the imams of my human crea-
tures .... For those who love them [i.e., accept their authority
(walayah)] I created my paradise, and for them that oppose them and
show enmity towards them I created my fire'. 17
The amanah, or divine charge, is the imams themselves and their
walayah, which here means both their nearness to God as His friends
(awliya 1) and also their authority (walayah) over men. God continues in
the tradition just cited to threaten those who claim the imams' pre-
rogatives and to give assurances to those who recognize their author-
ity:
He who claims for himself their status with me and nearness to my
majesty, him will I punish with a torment not inflicted on anyone in
the worlds and will consign him to the lowest pit of my fire with the
associators (mushrikin ). But they who accept their authority
(walayah) ... will I make them enter with the imams into the gardens
of my paradise. To those people will I grant whatever they please;
my favor (karamah) will I freely bestow on them and cause them to
dwell nighunto me. I shall make them intercessors for the sinners of
my men and women servants. Their walayah [i.e., the imams'] is the
charge (amanah) I laid upon my creation. Who among you, there-
fore, would bear it with all its burdens and claim it for himself
instead of my chosen ones. 18
The place cif the imams in human history 59
The Imam then commented that the heavens and the earth refused to
bear the heavy burden of this charge or to claim high status with the
majesty of God. Man, however, accepted it; man here means those
people who claimed the authority of the imams falsely. 19
To accept this divine primordial charge actually means to accept the
imiims as the mediators between God and men, to confess that their
authority is absolute both in the spiritual and temporal realms. So the
charge was offered to all creation; all things except man accepted it in
humility and submission. Man, however, did not accept this charge as
belonging to its rightful claimants, but foolishly claimed it for himsel
For this reason, we are told, the Qur>an called man 'wrongdoing and
foolish'.
The amiinah, the divine charge to men, was transmitted from one
prophet to another, each one transmitting it to the elect of his people.
Thus it will continue until the coming of the Mahdi, who will be given
authority to judge persons and nations according to how worthily
they bore theamiinah. Then the earth will be renewed and the covenant
of God with men be kept forever more.
The tradition under consideration pushes the Qur>anic symbolism
to its extreme limits. The heavens and the earth are not symbolically
offered the amiinah but actually warned of the consequences of reject-
ing it or claiming it for themselves. They are addressed by God, and,
exactly like men, they receive the divine threat and promise. All
creation must indeed share in the history of salvation and judgment
through the primordial choice to affirm or to reject the divine coven-
ant with creation, which is the absolute lordship of God 20 and the
authority of His vicegerents in creation, the imiims.
A somewhat haggadic interpretation of the crucial role of the imiims
in the divine plan of judgment and redemption is presented by the
sixth Imiim in the same tradition we have been considering. His
interpretation concerns the actual cause of the sin of our first parents
and the means of their forgiveness. We are told that when God created
Adam and Eve, He put them in paradise, the Garden of Eden. He
commanded them not to eat of the tree of wheat, the Islamic counter-
part of the apple tree in Western tradition. They saw the imiims near
the throne of Divine Majesty as forms of ljght glorifying God.
Astonished, they asked who these persons were and were told to look
on the leg ofthe throne, where they saw their names inscribed 'with
the light of the Almighty'. Still marvelling, they exclaimed, 'Oh how
greatly favored arc the people of this station by Thee, how well
beloved by Thee al).d how noble are they in Thy sight!' 21 God then
described the imams and their place in creation to Adam and Eve
saying,
Had it not been for their sakes, I would not have created you. For
these are the treasurers of my knowledge and the ones entrusted
with my great secret. Beware that you not look at them with envy
and desire their high status and favor with me lest you incur by this
my censure; enter into disobedience of me and be among the
wrongdoers. 22
The tradition goes on in the usual form of such exegetical tales to relate
that Adam and Eve asked to see the fire which God had prepared for
these wrongdoers, and the fire showed its awful means of torture.
They were warned not to look with envious and covetous eyes at the
luminous imams, but Satan whispered in their hearts words of envy,
covetousness and disobedience, and they were tempted and fell into
sin. God, however, wished to forgive them, and He sent the angel
Gabriel who reproached them for coveting the high station of those
who were better than they, and counselled them to pray for for-
giveness in the names of the Prophet Mubammad, his daughter
Fa~imah, her husband, their two children, and their descendants, the
imams. The sixth Imam concluded with the words, 'And God forgave
them for He is the Forgiver, the Merciful. ' 23
The wrong done through the sin of Adam and his wife could not be
totally repaired. Before Adam's sin only good things existed. The
forbidden tree bore wheat, the good grain. When, however, Adam
and his wife ate of the tree, barley grew in the wheat's place, and only
what was not touched by them remained wheat. The eighth Imam,
commenting on the same tradition, said, 'The source of all wheat is
what they did not eat, and the source of all barley is what grew in the
place where they did eat. ' 24
It may be remembered that, as a consequence of Adam's sin, Genesis
tells us, 'cursed is the ground because of you.... thorns and thistles it
shall bring forth to you.... ' 25 The natural harmony was disrupted,
The place of the imiims in human history 61
and the essential goodness of creation corrupted; man had to struggle

with the earth for the goods it had given freely and of its own accord.
The Qur 1anic term for man's fall from paradise literally means to fall
or come down from a higher into a lower place. 26
Like nature, man could no longer return to his essential purity and
bliss, but could only hope to attain his paradisial state on a different
plane of existence in the life to come, the life after death. The sin of
Adam, according to this tradition, was caused by another sin: envy
and covetousness. Only after Adam and Eve wished to be like the
imiims was Satan able to tempt them. A tradition from the eighth
Imiim, al-RiQa, presents an even neater parallel, reporting that Adam
looked with envy at the imiims and Eve at Htimah. Whereupon God
gave Satan authority over them, and they ate of the forbidden
tree. 27
The sin of Adam and Eve is a mild form of the sin of subsequent
humanity. The first pair committed the sin of envy by wishing to be
like the imiims, but later men committed the graver sin of claiming the
imiims' authority and high status for themselves. Thus the Qur1anic
reproach offoolishness and wrongdoing to man is aimed by the imiims
at the members of the Muslim community who rejected the divine
charge by rejecting the imiims themselves and showing hostility to
them and their followers.
The divine amiinah, looked at in the abstract, is the knowledge of
God, His revelations, and the imamate of the twelve Imiims who are
the true guardians of divine revelations and possessors of the know-
ledge of its true meaning. Concretely, the amiinah is the imiims them-
selves even as they appeared in flesh and blood in the world. They
embody in their actual lives the true way (sunnah) of all the prophets;
after cessation of revelation, they alone could communicate divine
knowledge to men. The eighth Imiim, speaking of the imiims, declared
that God had made them his trustees in His heavens and earths.
He goes on to say, ' ... through our worship can God be truly
worshipped, and without us God would have never been wor-
shipped. ' 28
In a tradition attributed to the sixth Imiim, we find perhaps the
clearest statement summarizing most of the ideas about the imams with
which we have been concerned so far. It therefore deserves to be
quoted in full. The Imam is supposed to have addressed one of his

disciples as follows:
0 Khaythamah, we are the tree of prophethood and house of
mercy; we are the keys of wisdom, the essence of knowledge, and
the locus of apostleship, the frequenting place of angels and
repositories of the secret ofGod. We are God's trust (wadrah) to His
servants, and His great sacred object (haram). We are the covenant
(<ahd) of God [with men], and he who keeps our covenant has kept
God's covenant. 29
We have seen throughout this study that the imams are greater and
IJlOre exalted than all the prophets who came before Mubammad. As
they and Mubammad, their father, were created of the same divine
light, they are his equals. Together with him they constitute the cream
ofhumanity, the best of all creatures, earthly as well as celestial beings.
Thus if the Qur>an connects obedience to God and love of God to the
obedience and love ofHis Apostle, 30 Sh'N tradition equates rejection of
the imams with the most unforgivable sin, the sin of association or
shirk. 31
Although the imams were not, as were the prophets before them,
recipients of revelation, they are the heirs of all previous revelations in
their various tongues. 32 Revelations, like the Qur>an and the lnfil
(Gospel), were revealed to be transmitted to men. They possess a
hidden or esoteric as weJI as an apparent or exoteric meaning. The
imiims alone among men know the hidden meaning of revelation, and
thus in them alone can revelation be preserved and fully com-
municated to others. It is not true, however, that the imiims received no
revelation. Like the prophets before them, they were given knowledge
of the 'Great Name of God', signifying secret knowledge that the
prophets communicated only to their vicegerents (aw~lya>) and to no
one else. a:l God, we are told on the authority of the sixth lmiim, has a
great name composed of seventy-three letters. Seventy-two of these
were communicated to the prophets of old; one remains hidden in His
knowledge, disclosed to no one. Prophets like Jesus and Moses
received a few letters each, through which they were able to perform
miracles and prove the truthfulness of their missions to their people.
Mubammad, the last of the prophets, inherited all seventy-two letters
The place of the imams in human history 63
communicated to earlier prophets. These letters he communicated to

the imams after him.
The imams likewise received an _inheritance of secret knowledge
passed from the Prophet to 1Ali and Eitimah, and from them to the rest
of the imams. One of these actual scrolls of written revelation is the
tablet (lawh) ofFatimah. It was a tablet of emerald which God sent as a
gift to her father on the occasion of the birth ofi:Iusayn. It contained
the names of her husband, 1Alf, and the imams after hii'Jl and described
their hard lot in the world. Ji.bir b. 1Abdallah al-'An~ari, one of the
famous companions of the Prophet, who lived until the days of the
fifth Imam, made a copy on a leather scroll. The fifth Imam summoned
him one day and recited from memory the entire document. Then he
assuredJabir that the tablet was in his possession and would be passed
down from one imam to the next until it reached the Mahdl. a4
Another revealed text is the scroll (mus.ha.f) of Fa~imah. 35 After the
death of the Prophet, Fatimah was distraught with grie An angel (in
some sources, Gabriel) came to console her. He told her of all that was
to take place in the world after her; and <Ali wrote down everything
she heard from the angel until he completed the text of the sacred
scroll. The sixth Imam, on whose authority this tradition is related,
described the mus.haf ofFatimah as a scroll three times larger than the
Qur>an, but not duplicating it in any way. It has nothing concerning
legal sanctions (haliil) and prohibitions (haram). It contains knowledge
of all that is to be until the Day of Resurrection. 36
The white jafr,a7 a scroll containing the tablets of Abraham and
Moses, the Psalms (zabiir) of David and the Gospel (Injil) ofJesus, is
also traditionally cited as inherited revelation; it does not, however,
contain a Qur>an. It is an inheritance from Adam, containing the
knowledge of all prophets and vicegerents and the knowledge of the
learned among the children oflsrael who had passed away. 311 There is
also a redjafr, a vessel containing the armor of the Apostle of God, the
staff and actual tablets of Moses, and the shirt ofJoseph. This latterjafr
is a symbol of temporal authority, as the other is a symbol of prophetic
gifts.
Finally, there is the jami 1ah, said to be a long scroll, which may
contain esoteric knowledge that the Prophet possessed but did not
communicate to the rest of the community. It is supposed to have been
dictated by him to <Ali. The jiimi<ah, from its title, appears to be a

general text containing all knowledge, even knowledge oflegal sanc-
tions and prohibitions. It is, we are told, seventy cubits long as
measured by the arm of the Apostle of God.:m
However exalted the position of the imiims may be, many traditions
aim at distinguishing them from prophets, and especially from
prophets like Moses, Jesus and Muhammad, sent as messengers with a
specific revelation intended for other men. Among the texts con-
sidered above, only one, the mu~haf of Fatimah, can claim to be an
original revelation. Yet the mu~haf of Fatimah cannot be considered a
new revelation because it does not bring any new law (shar;<ah), nor
was it intended for the general community of Muslims or any people
other than the imiims themselves. The redjafr, according to a tradition
ascribed to Ja1far ai-Sadiq, ' ... will be opened by the man of the
sword [i.e., the Mahdi] for the sword'. 40
The traditions we are examining in this study, and many like them,
have led some members of the Shjlf community to go so far in their
devotion to the imiims as to regard them as gods in human form. The
earliest awareness of such extremist dangers is expressed in a fairly
well known tradition attributed to the Prophet and found in Sh;<i as
well as Sunni hadith collections. One day the Prophet addressed the
Prince of the Faithful, saying:
0 1Aii! by Him in whose hand my soul is, had it not been that some
groups of my community would say of you what Christians had
said ofjesus, son of Mary, I would say of you today things such that
you would not pass by a group of Muslims without their taking the
dust from under your feet seeking by it good favor (barakah). 41
The sixth Imiim, Ja1far, horrified by the views of the extremists
(ghuliit) and dele~ationists (mujawwiqah ), 42 said:
God curse the extremists (ghuliit) and the delegationists (mufaw-
wiqah) for they took lightly disobedience to God. They disbelieved
(kajaru) in Him and associated others (ashraku) with Him. They
went astray and led others astray wishing to escape the performance
[of religious and legal] duties (farii<iq) and the rendering of obliga-
tions (huquq) [of God).43
The personality of the imam and signs of his imamate 65
There were and still are many Muslims who reject most of the claims
made by, and for, the imams and accord them scant recognition. It is
hardly enough, in the Shj<l view, to regard the imams just as good men
and members of the Prophet's family. Rather, ShNs regard the supre-
macy of the imams over all the men and their office as leaders and
teachers of the community as essential to true Islam. Thus there were
those who went so far in their veneration of the imams as to accord
them worship with God, and also those who rejected most of the
traditions making high claims for the imams as later and often non-
Islamic fabrications. Between these two extremes, moderate Shri
<u[ama> have for centuries been struggling for a more sober view of the
imiims, one which would preserve their authority (walayah) in the
community without losing sight of their human character and limi-
tations.
Th~ sixth Imam, we are told, when asked if the imams knew that
which is hidden (al-ghayb), vehemently denied this, saying, 'When
knowledge is opened for us we know, and when it is withdrawn, we
do not know .... For God alone knows that which is hidden, and no
one else knows anything save what God has granted him to know. ' 44
2.3 THE PERSONALITY OF THE Imam AND SIGNS OF HIS IMAMATE
For ShN Islam, the doctrine of the imamate is an integral part of the
doctrine of prophethood. Although imams cannot exist without
prophets (of whom they are vicegerents or representatives [aw~'iya>]),
they play a much more vital role than prophets in the creation, life and
eschatology of the world. Like the prophet, the imam possesses the gift
of miracles as proof of his claims and a sign of divine favor. Like only
the greatest of the prophets, the imam is infallible, or, more precisely,
protected (ma<~um) from error. In a long polemical tradition, 45 the
eighth Imam, <Ali al-Ri<;la, describes the imam thus:
... if then a servant has been chosen by God for the management of
the affairs of His servants, God would open his breast for that and
place in his heart the springs of wisdom and inspire him with
knowledge in full measure. Thereafter, he [the imam] will be
incapable of giving wrong council or be amiss, from the right direc-

tion. For he is infallible and fortified, rightly guided and well suc-
cored, protected from sins and errors. God had favored him with
all this that he may be a proof (hujjah) for His servants and His
witness over H~s creation: 'That is the bounty of God; He gives it
unto whomsoever He will; and God is of bounty abounding. ' 46
In the same tradition, al-RiQa describes the physical characteristics of
the imam as a sign of his imamate. The passage is very interesting and
brief enough to be quoted in its entirety:
The imam has signs (<a[amat). Of all men he should be most know-
ing, most wise, most pious, most courageous, most generous and
most prayerful. He should be born circumsized, clean and pure. He
should be able to see what is behind him as he is able to see what is
before him. He should cast no shadow. When he falls from his
mother's womb, he should fall on the two palms ofhis hands [i.e., in
prostration (sujud)] raising his voice with the two shahiidas, 47 pro-
fessions of faith. Only his eyes, but not his heart, should sleep and he
should not have wet dreams. He should be one spoken to by the
angel [Gabriel] (muhaddath ). 4!1 The mail (dir 1) of the Apostle of God
should fit him, and his sword should be dhu al:fiqiir. Neither his
urine nor his feces should be seen, for God had charged the earth to
swallow all that comes out ofhis body. His odor should be more
fragrant than musk. He should be dearer to men than their own
selves; and he should be more loving and compassionate towards
them than their own fathers and mothers. He should rule by what is
commanded [by God] and be. most strict in the avoidance of that
which is prohibited (hariim). His prayers should be answered, so that
were he to pray for a hard rock to be split in two, it should be so. He
should possess a scroll (~ahifah) containing the names of all his
followers (Shi<ah) and another containing the names ofhis enemies
till the Day of Resurrection. He should possess the jiimi<ah [see
above] which is a scroll seventy cubits long and containing the
knowledge of all that the children of Adam need. He should possess
the greater [ white]jqfr and the smaller [red]jqfr which is the whole
skin of the sheep containing all branches of knowledge, even the
price [or compensation] (arsh) of the smallest injury (khadsh), and
The personality of the imam and signs of his imamate 67
the punishment for an offense as one flogging {jaldah ), one half a

flogging and even one third of a flogging. He should possess the
scroll (mu~_haj) of Fa~imah. 49
In this tradition we see clearly that the imam not only possesses all
the qualities of the perfect man or prophet, but combines with these all
the special distinctions of the imam. In his piety, spiritual perfection
and special favors (karamat), the imam is like the perfect man. In his
physical characteristics of valor, cleanness, generosity and general
excellence, he resembles the perfect man not just of the Islamic tradi-
tion but also of other traditions where this concept is found. 50 In the
signs, or regalia, of his temporal power, the imam, although bearing
some resemblance to the Jewish messiah, actually manifests his unique
position in the history of religion. He is the perfect ruler possessing the
actual power, wisdom and authority ofMubammad, the Prophet and
ruler: the ideal head of a community. The imam is a powerful expres-
sion of the hopes, aspirations and spiritual ideals not only of Muslims
but also of religious men everywhere. Viewed in the context of the
historical development of human spirituality, he stands at the summit
of a mature spiritual elevation and personifies a human ideal nourished
by human faith and culture, but never to be realized until creation has
reached its moment of readiness for the final transformation.
We have seen in this chapter the central position that the imam occupies
in Sht<l Muslim piety, theological and religious thought, the role he
plays in defining right conduct according to the Shart<ah and his
significance to the total Weltanschauung. Much space and attention has
been devoted to the general concept of the imam in order finally to
elucidate the specific personality, life and death of Imam I:Iusayn, the
main concern of this study.I:Iusayn, the third Imam, occupies a unique
place among the imams of Sht<i Muslims. He was brought up and
nourished in a special way, as we shall see, by the Prophet from whom
he directly received the prophetic inheritance. He was chosen by God
to be the father of the imams rather than his older brother I:Iasan. His
highest distinction, however, is that he is the master of martyrs who
made the greatest sacrifice in the way of God. Indeed, if the concept or
ideal of the imiim embodies all spiritual and physical perfections for the
Shris, then Imam I:Iusayn can be regarded as the living perfection, or

concretization, of this ideal. Many of the ideals and ideas discussed in
this chapter will appear again, but in full life, with personality and
meaning, as we follow the 'Master of the Youths of Paradise' from
birth to martyrdom and beyond, to final vindication.
3
The Master of the Youths of Paradise

Sayyid Shabiib Ahl al-]annah 1
Among the imams of the Ithnacasharis (Twelver ShNs), J:!usayn, the

third, and father of the remaining nine imams, occupies a very special
place. It has been a long established tradition in Islam to rank imams
and caliphs as to superiority (afqaliyyah) based upon age, seniority and
priority of office. Thus officially the best of the imams and indeed of all
creatures after the Prophet, is cAli, the prince (amir) of the faithful.
Then comes his elder son and successor, l:lasan, then I:Iusayn and so-on
down the line to the twelfth Imam, the Mahdi. 2
l:lasan may be officially superior to his younger brother, l:lusayn,
on the basis of age and hence priority of office, but even a cursory
reading ofShici sources would show I:Iusayn to be much nearer to the
hearts of devotees than his brother. This view may be supported by
many Shf-i as well as Sunni traditions. Thus al-Khawarizmi, a famous
Sunni traditionist, relates a hadith of the Prophet concerning <Ali and
his two sons which describes I:fusayn as follows: ' .... Verily I:Iusayn
is one of the gates of the Garden. He who obstinately opposes him,
God will deprive of the orders of paradise. ' 3 The two brothers, how-
ever, are both regarded by tradition as 'the two masters of the youths
of paradise', having been thus designated by the Prophet himself. 4 The
sixth Imam, JaCfar, interpreting this epithet in much broader terms,
said, 'l:lasan and I:Iusayn are the two masters of the youths of para-
dise .... ', then added, ' .... all the inhabitants of paradise are youths,
therefore to them [i.e., l:lasan and I:Iusayn] belong the imamate in this
world and lordship in the next'. 5
Mubammad Baqir al-Majlisi begins his account of I:Iusayn's life
with a hadith attributed to his older brother which reads, 'For I:Iusayn
was an imiim before he was created [born] and had read sacred reve-
lation (wahi) before he could speak. ' 6 The author then comments on
the l,adith and applies it to all the imiims: ' .... this refers to him
[l:lusayn] when still in the realm of spirits and the womb... .It is
because the sacred spirits of the imilms, before their union with their
70 The master of the youths of paradise
sacred bodies, possessed all branches of religious knowledge and were

teachers of the angels. ' 7
In this chapter we shall first examine a few of the traditions related
to I:Iusayn's conception and birth. Then, we shall follow him from his
early yo4th with the Prophet through manhood to the beginning of
the events leading to his martyrdom. The purpose of this chapter is not
to present a biography of Imam I:Iusayn, but rather to examin~ certain
aspects ofhis life necessary (or the understanding of the ~nique place
he has occupied in ShN piety. This will be done through an inves-
tigation of some of the hagiogriphical traditions concerning his life
and character. It must be borne in mind that we are concern~d with
I:Iusayn as martyr; hence this chapter will deal with a few of the many
traditions that predict his tragic end.. The tragedy ofKarbala> appears
at every step of the Imam '-s life, from h~ birth, or even prior to it, until
his death. In fact, in looking at the various stages of his life, we are
viewing a moving prelude to tn_e final drama of suffering, martyrdom
and the humiliating captivity of the surviving members, all women
and children, of his family.
3.1 J:IusAYN's -BIRTH AND CHILDHOOD
The stories which depict the birth of J:Iusayn reveal all the charac-
teristics of the divine child as spiritu~nd temporal hero. His birth and
destiny were foretold to the Prophet m a special message from God
through Gabriel, the angel of revelation. We are told by Ibn Qaw-
lawayh (d. 367/977) that Gabriel came to the Prophet and said, '0,
Mul).ammad, thy Lord sends thee greetings (salam) and informs thee
that a child shall be born to thee from Fatimah who shall be slain by tl]y
community (ummah) after thee.' The Prophet answered, '0 Gabriel,
peace be upon my Lord, I have no need of a child that shall be born
from Fatimah and whom my community will slay after me.' Gabriel
went up to heaven and returned to the Prophet, repeating the same
message three times. The third time he added,' ... He [God] informs
thee that He shall keep the imamate, walayah and wa~iyyah [vice-
gerency] in the progeny of J:Iusayn.' To that the Prophet replied, 'I
consent.' When the Prophet sent a message to his daughter telling her
l-fusayn's birth and childhood 71
of the divine decree for the expected child, she at first gave the same
negative answer. When she was told ofhis election as the father of the
imams, however, she likewise gave her consent. Yet she grieved for
him even before she gave him birth. Thus the author tells us, citing the
words of the Qur>an, 'And his mother bore him with grief and gave
birth to ljim with grie( '8 Commenting on the rest of the verse, the
author said, ' ... had he [l:lusayn] said, "make my seed righteous",
then all Sis descendants would have been imams.' 9
The nativity ofi:Iusayn as depicted by most writers, even very early
ones, shows clearly his supernatural character. Many agree that, like
Jesus, lfe was in the womb for only six months. The author of Ithbat
al- Wa~iyyah, 10 wishing to portray this miracle with full impact, states
that when i;Iasan was born his mother was clean and pure, untouched
by the 1m purities of women when giving birth. He further asserts that
Fa~imah conceived I:Iusayn on that same day. The fact that this openly
contradicts his later statement elating the birth of the two brothers
almost a year apart does not seem to bother him. Again wishing to
emphasize the continuity of the imams from the Prophet, he observes
that the birth ofl:lusayn was like that'ofthe Apostle ofGod and the
two Imiims, <Ali his father and l:lasan his brother. 11 This similarity
between the conception and birth of the Imam and the Prophet is
described most dramatically in a late work by Bal:tran'i, Maqtal al-
1Awalim. It bears a close resemblance to the hagiographical nativity
stories of the Prophet which no doubt it presupposes. 12
The author attributes his account of the birth ofl:lusayn to Fa~imah
herself, who told of his conception to one of the companions of the
Prophet. Prior to her pregnancy, the Prophet said, 'I see a light shining
from your face; thus you shall give birth to a Proof (hujjah) of God
over this creation.' 13 After one month of her confinement, she fell ill
with a fever. The Apostle of God called for a pitcher of water over
which he uttered words which she did not understand, spat in the
water, and gave her to drink. Immediately she recovered. After forty
days, and until the end of the second month, she felt in her back,
between her skin and her garment, something like the crawling of ants
and thereafter she felt the child move in her womb. At no time did she
feel either hungry or thirsty, but rather as if she were constantly
satiated with milk and honey. During her third month, she found an
increase ofblessing and bounty (khayr) in her house. From then on she
never left her prayer chamber, and God granted her comfort and peace
through the child in her loneliness. After the sixth month, she had no
need of a lamp on the darkest night. When she was alone, she used to
hear the voice of the child praising God in her womb. She increased in
happiness and physical strength.
On the ninth day of the seventh month, an angel came to Fatimah
while she slept and touched her on the back with his wings. She awoke
frightened and astonished, made her ablutions, prayed two rak<ahs and
went back to sleep. Another angel came to her, at her head, and blew in
her face and on her neck. She awoke more afraid than before, made her
ablutions again, and prayed four rak<ahs. After a short sleep, a third
angel came to her, sat her up while reciting special formulas over her
for protection against evil, and recited the two siirahs of refuge. 14
The next day, Fatimah went to her father in the house of Umm
Salamah, his favorite wife, and related to him the events of the night
before. He met her with signs of joy visible in his countenance and
identified for her the mysterious personages. The first, he said, was
<Jzra>'il, the angel of death, who is also charged with wombs of
women. The second was Mikha11 (Michael), the angel charged to
watch over the wombs of the women of the Holy Family, ahl al-bayt.
Then the Prophet asked, 'Did he blow [i.e., in her face]?' 'Yes', she
answered. He embraced her and wept, then told her that the third was
the angel Gabriel who would serve the newborn child. 15
This legend contains elements common to the birth stories of many
great religious figures from the Buddha to Samuel, Jesus and
Mub.ammad. The similarities with the story of Christ, as related in the
Gospels, are especially striking. Both the Virgin Mary and Fatimah
were visited by angels who comforted them. Echoing the Qur>anic
narrative of the nativity of Christ, this story tells us that Fatimah
retreated from all human contact during her confinement, and, like the
Virgin, was provided with special heavenly sustenance. A white dove
entered Fatimah's garment at the house ofUmm Salamah before her
meeting with the Prophet, perhaps echoing a later event in the life of
Christ: the appearance of the dove at his baptism. 16
It is an accepted historical fact that <Ali grew up with the Prophet
and, when still a youth, accepted Islam and stood by the Prophet
1-Jusayn's birth and childhood 73
during the difficult days in Mecca before his migration (hijrah) to

Medina. In a touching tradition generally told as an interpretation of
the Qur>anic verse 17 commanding the Prophet to warn the members
of his clan, his nearest of kin, he gathered together his close relatives
and the few Muslims of Mecca to establish a pact of brotherhood
among them. <~li, who was present, was left out of this pact. Despon-
dently, he asked, 'And I, 0 Apostle ofGod?' The Prophet answered,
'Are you not content to be unto me as Harlin [Aaron] was to Miisa
[Moses], except that after me there will be no other prophets?' 18 Thus
as Aaron was the vicegerent (wa~i) or representative (khalifah) and
brother to Moses, so was <An to Mub.ammad.
Authoritative Sh'N sources relate this tradition of the naming of the
two children ofCAJi. 19 Thus, when I::Iasan was born, the Prophet came
to <Ali and asked, 'What have you named my child?' cAn answered, 'I
would not precede you in this task, 0 Apostle of God, but I would
have liked to name him I:Iarb.' The Prophet then told him that Gabriel
had come to him, announced the birth of the child, and delivered the
divine message that since cAli was to him as Aaron was to Moses, he
should name his son after Aaron's son. The Prophet asked what
Aaron's son was called and the angel answered, 'Shabir'. Mul).ammad
protested, however, that his tongue was Arabic, so the angel merely
translated the Hebrew 'Shabir' into the Arabic 'al-l:lasan' and bade
him give the child that name. Similarly, when I:Iusayn was born, the
angel came with the divine command that he be called SP,ubayr, the
diminutive ofShabir. Again the Prophet protested that his tongue was
Arabic; the child was then given the name al-I::Iusayn, the diminutive
of al-I:Iasan. This story expresses well the Shi<i concept of prophet-
hood and imamate. 20
For every prophet, God appointed a vicegerent (wa~i) and successor
(khalifah) as well as eleven others who succeeded the first Imam, or
vicegerent: altogether twelve imiims. 21 The first wa~i of Adam was
Seth; that of Abraham, Ishmael; of Moses, Aaron and of Jesus,
Sham<un (Simon Peter). Moses, the l.awgiver par excellence, was, like
Mul).ammad, the political head of a community; his first wa~i was his
brother, Aaron. <Ali, the cousin and son-in-law of the last Prophet
Mul).ammad, was also to him like a brother, for Abii Talib, <Ali's
father, took the Prophet into his care when Mul).ammad was yet a
child, orphaned by the early death ofboth his parents. Ibn Shahrashiib,
the author of al-Manaqib, argues that God kept the imamate in the
progeny ofl;Iusayn, as he did the prophethood in that of Aaron. The
proof of this, the author argues, is that in God's Word it is written,
'Whosoever is slain unjustly, we have appointed to his next of kin
authority; but let him not exceed in slaying; he shall be helped. ' 22 The
author then added, 'Surely <Ali, son ofl;Iusayn, was most deserving of
the claim to his father's blood and was alone worthy of demanding its
recompense. ' 23
l;Iusayn was born on the fifth of Sha<ban in the fourth year of the
Hijrah, the year of the Trench. 24 According to Shaykh al-Mufid, the
author ofal-Irshad, one of the earliest and most authoritative works on
the lives of the imams, when l;Iusayn was born the Prophet came and
took him in his arms with great joy, and, as already observed, gave
him the name al-I;Iusayn. He then shaved the child's hair, gave its
weight in silver in alms, and performed the <aqiqah (sacrifice) as was the
custom of the time. 25 Al:..Mufid relates relatively few of the many
traditions connected with the birth of I;Iusayn, without, however,
denying the supernatural character of the child or the events leading to
his birth. The shaykh was more interested in asserting the imamate of
the two children of <Ali and the descendants of l;Iusayn; therefore
whatever of the miraculous or extraordinary he cites in this con-
nection, he does so only in proof of this important Shti doctrine.
We are told that before the binh ofl;Iusayn, Umm al-Fa<;IF6 dreamt
that a piece of the Prophet's flesh, or one ofhis members, was cut off
and thrown in her lap. Frightened by the dream, she told it to the
Prophet who interpreted it for her with joy announcing the birth to
Fatimah of a child who would be put in her lap to be nursed. Such
portents of the birth of a hero, prophet or saint are of course familiar in
the history of religion, but this one has a very specific purpose. It is
intended to portray the close relationship of the Imam to the Prophet,
an emphasis to which we shall have shortly to return.
In later, and more popular, sources, 27 we are told that when l;Iusayn
was born, God ordered Ric;lwan, the keeper of the Gardens ofParadise,
to adorn paradise, and Malik, the keeper of hell, to diminish its flames
because a child was born to Muhammad. God ordered, moreover, the
houris to adorn themselves with the best of garments and precious
1-fusayn's birth and childhood 75
stones to visit one another and rejoice for the birth of the child. The
tree Tiiba 28 was commanded to scatter its fruits of precious stones and
life-giving, healing leaves all about like rain. The angels, houris and
youths of paradise were allowed to gather all that wealth in honor of
thi~ great festive occasion. Then God sent down Lu<ayyah, the most
beautiful of all the houris, to be the midwife to Fatimah. She washed
the child with the waters of paradise and rubbed his gums with her
spittle as did also the angel Gabriel. I:Iusayn, like all the imams, was
born clean; this was asserted in quite early works. Thus we are told
that Safiyyah, the daughter of<Abd al-Munalib, was the midwife who
delivered the child while the Prophet waited impatiently outside. As
soon as the child was born, the Prophet called out, '0 aunt, give me
my son.' She, however, protested, saying, '0 Apostle of God, we have
not yet cleaned him.' He retorted, 'You clean him! Nay, God Himself
has cleansed and purified him. ' 29 It is possible that this retort was
meant metaphorically, but traditions like this could in all probability
have provided the basis for many hagiographical tales. Some zealous
writers have gone so far as to say that the Prophet himself acted as the
midwife at the birth ofJ:Iusayn, and to describe on the authority ofone
or another of the companions how his hands were thoroughly stained
with the blood of childbirth. 30
We have already observed that I:Iusayn's martyrdom gave his
descendants the right to claim his own blood as well as his high station.
Ibn Shahrashiib, whom we cited in proof of this idea, asserts that the
Prophet suckled I:Iusayn himselfby putting his thumb or tongue into
the child's mouth; which became for the child a source of nour-
ishment. This the Prophet did immediately after the child's birth,
forbidding his mother to nurse him herself and continuing thus to feed
the suckling infant for forty days. We are also told that before I:Iasan
was born, the Prophet came to his daughter and said, 'You shall give
birth to a male child for whom Gabriel has offered me congratulations.
Do not suckle him until I return.' Then he went on a short journey.
When he returned he reproached her saying, 'What have you done?!'
She answered that her maternal instinct would not allow her to see
him cry of hunger. With sad resignation, he said, 'Thus God willed to
do only that which He had decreed. ' 31
Just before the birth ofJ:Iusayn, the Prophet came again to Htimah
and ordered her not to suckle the child no matter how long she would
have to wait for his return. When he returned from a three-day
journey, he found the child still unfed, the mother anxiously waiting
for his return. He put his tongue into the boy's mouth, who began to
suck on it hungrily, and repeated twice, '0 I;Iusayn! So God would not
have it except as He willed. It shall be [i.e., the imamate] in your
progeny until the Day ofResurrection.' 32 Ibn Shahrashiib relates this
tradition in proof of the imamate of I:Iusayn in the chapter dealing
with I:Iusayn's miracles; the miracle in this case was that I;Iusayn was
nourished through divine providence and the flesh and blood of the
Prophet. The author declares, ' .... thus his [i.e., I;Iusayn's] flesh and
blood grew out of the flesh and blood of the Apostle of God'. 33 We saw
in the last chapter that the Prophet and the imams were created of a
special divine light before all creation. Here I;Iusayn's special constitu-
tion is emphasized, his physical substance closely connected to that of
the Prophet, thus claiming for him still greater sanctity and honor.
As we shall see below, many stories tell of the coming of angels to
congratulate the Prophet on the birth of I;Iusayn. Reluctantly, they
had to tell him of what was to befall the newborn child at the hands of
wicked men after the Prophet's death. According to a curious tradition
related by Ibn Qawlawayh on the authority of the sixth Imam, Ja1far,
God Himself was the first to offer His blessings, congratulations and
condolences to Mubammad. As the Prophet was sitting one day in the
house ofhis daughter, Fa~imah, he suddenly fell on his face sobbing.
Then sitting up again, he took the child, pressed him closely to his
breast and said:
0 Fatimah, daughter of Mubammad, verily the Most High has

appeared to me, in your house at this hour, in the best appearance
and most beautiful form. He then said to me, '0 Mub.ammad, do
you love I;Iusayn?' 'Yes!,' said I. 'He is the comfort of my eye, the
beloved [literally fruit] of my inward heart lfu>ad) and the flesh that
is between my two eyes. ' 34 Then God, while putting his hand on the
head ofi;Iusayn, said to me, '0 Mubammad, how greatly blessed is
this child, for upon him are my blessings, my mercy, my prayers
and good pleasures (ra4awat). My curse and wrath, torment and
disgrace shall be for those who will fight against him, stand up
1-fusayn's birth and childhood 77
against him or oppose him. For verily, he is the master of all

martyrs, those who have gone before and those that are yet to come
in this world and the next. ' 35
We are told that when I:Iusayn was born, God sent Gabriel with a
thousand legions (qab'il) of angels to share the Prophet's joy for the
birth of his grandson and to offer their condolences for the child's
impending tragedy.1fhe party of angels was stopped on the way by an
angel named Fu~rus 36 who was imprisoned on a lonely island for an
.offence he had committed. He had been sent on a mission but had
tarried in its execution, for which God had punished him by breaking
his wings and throwing him on that island a thousand years before the
birth ofi:Iusayn. 37 Fu~rus begged the angels to carry him with them,
asking the Prophet to intercede on his behal( The Prophet did so,
ordering the angel to rub his broken wings on the wrappings of the
infant. In this way, his wings were restored to him. God, however, did
not return the forgiven angel back to heaven where he had been one of
the bearers of the throne, 38 but ordered him to guard the tomb of
I:Iusayn and give glad tidings to his pilgrims of their high degree in
paradise. Fu~rus, the tale goes on, boasts in heaven, saying 'Who is like
me when I am the freedman of f;Iusayn, son of <Ali?' 39
Other angels came at various times to the Prophet to visit him and
offer their condolences for the tragic death destined for his beloved
child. One of these, a great angel whose head reached heaven, came
down and stood in the sea where he raised the lament for all creatures
to hear, ordering them to don garments of mourning because the son
of the beloved of God, Mulpmmad, would be slain. The angel is said
to have then come and reported the sad news to the Prophet. On his
return to heaven, he took some of the soil ofKarbala> on the tip ofhis
wing for all the hosts of qeaven to smell and receive its blessings or
barakah. 40 Gabriel came often with the sorrowful news, as did the angel
of rain; in every case, the angel would show the Prophet the spot
where I:Iusayn was to be killed and give him a handful of its soil. All
such angelic visits took place when the Prophet was in the house of
Umm Salamah, to whom he gave the sacred soil, telling her to keep it
as a sign of I:Iusayn's death; she would know that I:Iusayn had been
killed when the soil turned into congealed blood.
One final event in the dramatic story of the birth and infancy of
I:Iusayn deserves mention. When the child was a year old, twelve
angels of diverse appearance came down to the Prophet. One was like
a lion, another like a dragon, the third like an ox and the fourth had the
appearance of a man. The other eight resembled one or another of the
animal species. 41 They came down sorrowful with red faces (a sign of
anger) and outspread wings, and announced to the Prophet, '0
Mubammad, there will befall your child I:Iusayn what befell Hibil
[Abel] at the hands ofQabil [Cain]; and he shall receive a good reward
like that of Abel, and his murderer will bear the same heavy burden of
sin and punishment as did Cain. ' 42
Such stories, portraying the sorrow of the Prophet here on earth
shared by all creation including the angelic realm, are meant, like all
hagiographic tales, to inflame the emotions of the audience of the
ta 1z'iyah and increase their participation in the event. Al-Khawarizmi
tells us, in the same context as the story just related, that when an angel
sought permission of God to pay a visit to the Prophet, he was
commanded to announce again the sad news to him. He protested that
he was elated with the opportunity to greet Mubammad, but now his
joy was disturbed by having to be the messenger of ill omen. N onethe-
less, he obeyed the divine command, and Prophet and angel shed bitter
tears. 4:1 The angel in this story mentions the murderer of I:Iusayn by
name: Yazid, who was to kill the son ofFa~imah, the pure one, who is
like the Virgin Mary, daughter of 1Imran. 44
It is often difficult to determine whether an author meant to relate
different traditions of such angelic visits, or to present variants of the-
same one. Gabriel, for instance, is often mentioned by the same author
as coming down in different contexts and on different occasions
expressly to announce to Mubammad the murder of his grandson.
One cannot help asking why the Prophet needed to be reminded so
often of what he knew even before the child was born. Again, the aim
is clearly not to write an historical narrative in any sense of the word,
but rather to portray a tragic scene. Even in heaven, on the night of the
Prophet's ascension (tnicraj), he saw signs of the tragic end ofboth his
grandsons: two beautiful palaces each made of a single pearl, one
red and the other green. When he asked to whom these magnifi-
cent abodes belonged, he was told that the red was for I:Iusayn
. 1-fusayn's birth and childhood 79
and the green for l:lasan, the colors of blood and poison respec-
tively. 45
Sh1<1 as well as Sunni tradition generally asserts that the Prophet
loved his two grandchildren with a love that knew no limits. We have
already noted 46 the deep and highly emotional intimacy which existed
between the Prophet and the people of his household. All Sh"N
authorities advance this love as incontrovertible proof of the imamate
of l:lasan and l:lusayn. The imams are the elect of God; the Prophet
loved them, as does God. Consequently, those whom God and His
Prophet love, all creatures, especially men, are enjoined to love also. It
is related that the Prophet prayed one day while the two children were
in his arms, '0 God, I love them: do Thou love them also, and love
those who show love for them. ' 47 This prayer is related on the author-
ity of Salman, the Persian, with yet another tradition which expresses
clearly the theological implications of this love. The Prophet said, 'He
who loves l:lasan and l:lusayn, I love him; he whom I love, God loves
also; and he whom God loves, him He causes to enter paradise. But he
who hates them, I hate; and he whom I hate, God hates; and he whom
God hates, him He causes to enter into the fire. ' 48
These passages point to the fact that love for the two imams is closely
linked for the Sht<l community with love for God and His Apostle. In
the interpretation of the famous Qurlanic verse of the mubahalah
(prayer of invocation), 49 Shl<l theology of the imams goes a step further
and identifies the Holy Family with the Prophet in a very direct way.
The words 'our selves' are said to refer to <Ali and the Prophet, 'our
women' to. Fatimah and 'our sons' to I:Iasan and l:lusayn. 50 Shz<l
authors relate the story of the challenge of the Prophet to the Chris-
tians ofNajran, stressing the role of the Holy Family in that encounter.
The Christians at first agreed to hold the mubahalah on the appointed
day, their bishop counselling them, saying 'If he [Muhammad] comes
to us with his companions, we would fear no harm, but if he brings his
family, then we should not hold the mubahalah. ' 51 When they saw the
Prophet kneel, with <Ali, Fa~imah and their two children surrounding
him, the bishop exclaimed, 'By God behold Muhammad kneeling as
did the prophets before him. ' 52 Then in fear and awe, they requested to
be excused from the nmbiihalah and accepted to pay a large tribute;
some of them even embraced Islam.
Many traditions show how anxious the Prophet was lest any harm
should befall his two dear children and how preoccupied he was with
insuring their comfort and well-being. One genre of hagiographic
tales, showing this anxiety of the Prophet for f:Iasan and I:Iusayn in a
very sentimental and touching way, relates in differing versions how
one or both of them was temporarily lost. Usually their mother
missed them and would run to her father for help. Then the Prophet
and his companions would go looking for the children, finally found
asleep in each other's arms in the garden of a rich Jew of Medina. An
animal, often a serpent, would be watching over them. The Prophet
converses with the creature, who finally delivers to him its precious
charge, uttering divine praises, bearing witness to the apostleship of
Mubammad, and telling of the immediate reward it had received from
God for this good deed. 53
One of these tales, related on the authority of the sixth Imam,
combines several important elements of folklore, even hints at
<Nishah's neglect of the children. Although it is customary in Sht<l
tradition that a story concerning the Prophet and his family takes place
in the house ofUmm Salamah, this tradition shows the Prophet at the
home of <Nishah, suffering an illness. His daughter and her two
children came to see him, but he was asleep. Finally the mother left
while the two children, each lying on one arm of the Prophet, also fell
asleep. They woke up before he did and started for home. It was a
dark rainy night, and the children lost their way. They strayed into a
garden belonging to the Jewish tribe of Bani al-Naijar. The Prophet
woke up visibly alarmed at not finding them beside him. He went out
looking for them, and a light shone guiding him to the spot where they
had decided to sleep until morning. It had rained all around them
except on the spot where they lay, for a huge and fearful serpent, with
hairs like bamboo shoots, stood over the two children and covered
each of them with one of its two large wings. Fearing that the serpent
would do the children harm, the Prophet advanced hurriedly and
cleared his throat in order to alert the serpent and scare it away. But
when it noticed him, the serpent crawled away from the children,
saying, '0 God I call Thee and Thy angels to witness that these are the
two young lions [children] of Thy Prophet. I have faithfully watched
over them and now I return them to him, safe and sound. ' 54
1-Jusayn's birth and childhood 81
The serpent then told the Prophet that he was one of the jinn of
Nisi bin (Nisi bus), whose people had forgotten a verse of the Qur>an.
He had been sent to learn it again from the Prophet, but as he reached
that spot he heard a voice saying, '0 you serpent, these are the two
lions of the Apostle. Keep them from all perils, and from any evil
happenings of the day or night. ' 55 Thus the Prophet reminded the
jinn-serpent of the verse; then he carried the children home on his
shoulders with a gladdened heart.
This love of the Prophet for the two youthful imams is portrayed in a
variety of ways by historians as well as hagiographers, Sh"Ns as well as
Sunnls. They tell of how, when the Prophet prostrated himself in
prayer and the two children jumped on his back, he would prolong his
prostration until they voluntarily climbed down; of how he used to
play with them using all the endearments of a father for his own
children. Often he would be in the mosque delivering an important
sermon and the children would come tripping in. He would interrupt
his speech, leave his pulpit,- and bring them up to him. 56
The love of the angels for the two imams is shown in the many
traditions telling of how, when I;Iusayn cried in the cradle and his
mother was too tired to wake up to his crying, an angel would come
down to quiet him and play with him. In fact, we are often told that the
angels cried for I;Iusayn's baby tears. Whenever the Prophet heard him
crying, he would order the nurse to quiet him, reproachfully exclaim-
ing, 'Have I not told you that his crying hurts me. ' 57
One final tradition, which is told by many authors with richly
em belli shed variations, deserves brief mention here for the connection
it makes between the love of the Prophet for the two children aiJ.d the
cruel martyrdom of l:lusayn. The. two children were wrestling
together one day, and the Prophet was cheering l:lasan on. Fa~imah
protested that he was actually taking the side of the older over the
younger. He replied, however, that Gabriel himself was cheering on
l:lusayn. When neither of the two children could prevail over the
other, they asked the Prophet to judge as to who was the stronger. But
he, not wishing to hurt the feelings of either of them, suggested that
they write something, and the one with the better handwriting would
be the stronger. Again, not wishing to make a judgment, he told
them that he was an illiterate Prophet and that they had better go to
their father. The father, however, wishing to avoid deciding for the
one over the other, sent them to their mother. She then decided that
she would scatter a necklace of pearls she had around her neck, and
whoever could collect the largernumber of pearls would be the
stronger. Each of the two collected an equal number with one extra
pearl left, over which they began to fight. Gabriel, like their parents
and grandfather, not wishing to break the heart of either of them,
struck the extra pearl with his wing, dividing it in two. So each child
picked up one half, thus they were judged equal and the problem was
solved.
This story occurs in most of our sources. 58 In later scources it is used
to contrast the Prophet's love for the imams with the suffering and
martyrdom they later endured under Umayyad rulers. The story is
told to Yazid by a Christian, who was supposed to have witnessed the
event and reproached the heartless ruler for his cruelty toward
l:Iusayn. The head of J:Iusayn was at the time before Yazid, having
been brought from Karbala>. The Christian professed Islam, embraced
the Imam's head and was martyred by Yazid. 59
That the Imams are the true and only successors of the Prophet is
supported by Sh'N authorities With the argument that f;Iusayn was
ransomed with the life of Ibrahim, the only male child born to the
Prophet. Perhaps the most interesting interpretation of this event in a
clearly redemptive sense is the one given by the author of Ithbiit
al- Wa~lyyah. He tells us that when Ibrahim fell ill, the Prophet grieved
sorely for him. In other sources we are told that the Prophet had both
his son and J:Iusayn on his lap when the angel Gabriel came to him,
requiring that he choose one of the two, since God did not wish him to
have them both. He chose the life ofl:Iusayn over that ofhis son, who
immediately fell ill and died three days later. 60
According to Ithbat al-Wa~lyyah, the angel Gabriel came to the
Prophet with the divine message, saying:
The Lord sends you His peace and salutation, and says, 'You either
choose the life of your son, Ibrahim, and he will be granted life and
the inheritance of prophethood after you. Then your entire com-
munity will take part in killing him, and I would send them all to the
fire. Or, you choose I:Iusayn your grandson (sib(); he will live and I
I-Jusayn's birth and childhood 83
will make him an imam after you. Half of your community will then
take part in his killing [some actually murdering him, some helping
others against him, some abandoning him] and I will send only
those people to the fire.'
The Prophet answered, 'I prefer that my entire community should be

sent to the fire and that f:Iusayn live rather than Fa~imah having to
grieve for his loss. ' 61 Thus the Prophet used to embrace f:Iusayn and
exclaim, 'May I be a ransom for him whom I ransomed with my own
son Ibrahim. ' 62 The redemptive implication of the story is twofold.
I:Iusayn himself is ransomed by one who would have been a prophet,
had he lived, and f:Iusayn, in turn, redeems at least half the community
by his own life and death.
This tradition comes close to being a doctrinal one; but in the end it
fails in this purpose. The author intends to show that both God and the
Prophet chose the imamate to succeed prophethood; for had Ibrahim
lived, he would have been a prophet. Yet the author in the end chooses
to reiterate the popular notion, common to all other authors, that this
event proves even further the love of the Prophet for f:Iusayn, even
over his own child. In fact, the story, as told by most authors, is less
than edifying. The Prophet is made to rationalize his choice on the
grounds that ifhis son dies, his mother, who was Mariyah, the Copt,
would grieve, but that does not matter since she is only a servant. He
himself could patiently bear the loss. On the other hand, the death of
l:lusayn would grieve Fa~imah, <Ali, I:Iasan and himself, and he did not
wish them all to grieve. It is interesting that no author argues simply
for the pure love of the Prophet for f:Iusayn, but rather they all look for
a motive in some way external to the relationship between the Prophet
and the Imam.
The question of the continuation of the imamate in the descendants
of f:Iusayn, and indeed of the imamate altogether, provoked much
dispute in the early Muslim community. That this went on well into
the sixth century of the hijrah is clear from the fact that one cannot
speak categorically of one or even two distinct claims for the imamate
by one or two descendants of<AJi. The followinghadith, quoted by the
well known Sunni traditionist, al-Khawarizmi, is a clear statement in
support of the imamate off:Iusayn and his descendants. It is quoted on
the authority of Salman the Persian, in itself an interesting fact, since

Salm~n has been regarded as the father of much ShN thought and
tradition. One day the Prophet held J:Iusayn in his lap kissing him and
saying, 'You are a master (sayyid), the son of a master and father of
masters. You are an imam, sonofanimam, and father of imams. You are
a ~ujjah [divine proof over all creation]. the son of a ~ujjah, and father
of~ujaj [plural of~ujjah]. Nine [imams] shall proceed from your loins
(~alb), the ninth shall be their qa>im [i.e., the Mahd1].'&.1
Shiel tradition has always insisted that the imamate cannot be estab-
lished through human choice, or any such arbitrary decision. 64 It is
rather an inheritance, divinely instituted, from the Prophet to <All, and
from him to his firstborn, al-I:Iasan, and then to al-I:Iusayn. But after
the third Imam, I:Iusayn, disagreement arose even within the young
ShN community as to whetheJ;" the imamate should continue on
among the children of <Ali, passing on to the next brother in line, or
remain among the progeny of J:Iusayn. We need not enter into the
intricacies of this dispute. The materials discussed so far furnish ample
evidence from the Twelver'Shrl :point of view for the latter position. It
is important, however, to discuss briefly the will (wa~lyyah) ofJ:Iasan
to his brother Ibn al-Hanafiyyah, the other contender for this office.
This document, or rather conversation, between the two brothers
portrays well the Twelver Shl11 attitude toward the other members of
the family of< Ali, for the case of Ibn al-Hanafiyyah may be taken as
typical. It puts'in his mouth a glowing tribute to his martyred brother
and a clear recognition of his authority as the Imam after the death of
J:Iasan.
On his deathbed, J:Iasan called for his brother Ibn al-Hanafiyyah in
order to give him final words of warning against having any feeling of
envy or jealousy towards J:Iusayn. He warned his brother against
claiming for himself the right ofl:Iusayn to the imamate after the death
ofl:Iasan. I:Iasan said, '0 Mubammad [lbp. al-Hanafiyyah], do you not
know that J:Iusayn Ibn <Ali is the Imam after my death ... ? For it is so
decreed by God in the foregoing Book [the Qur>an], an inheritance
from the Prophet vouchsafed him by God as a gift after his father and
mother. Verily God knew that you, the Holy Family, are His elect
among His creatures. Thus He chose from among you Mubammad,
who chose <AJi, and <Ali chose me for the imamate and I chose
I-fusayn's virtues and later years 85
l;Iusayn.' 65 Ibn al-Hanafiyyah concurred with his brother's words.

After praising him, he said of I:Iusayn, 'Truly l;Iusayn is the most
knowing and wise of us and the nearest ofkin to the Apostle of God.'
He then repeated the words of l;Iasan concerning the election of the
Holy Family and concluded, 'We submit therefore and accept him
[i.e., l;Iusayn] in whom is manifested the pleasure [i.e., of God], him
through whom we shall be saved from all hardships (mushkilat). ' 66
3.2 l;IUSAYN's VIRTUES AND LATER YEARS
Islamic tradition in general asserts clearly that I;Iusayn was possessed

of great knowledge (tilm), wisdom and compassion (~ilm), cour-
age and exemplary piety. By knowledge is meant prophetic and
religious knowledge. It is this prophetic knowledge, the knowledge
( 1ilm) of the Book (kitab), that enables the prophets and imams to
perform miracles, knowledge itselfbeing regarded as a great miracle.

We are told that al-A~bagh Ibn N abatah, a prominent follower of
<Ali, the first Imam, and his two sons, asked l;Iusayn to reveal to him
one of the hidden secrets of God. He meant, of course, the mani-
festation of a sign or miracle. The lmiim, knowing what was in his
heart, asked him if he wished to see him conversing with the Apostle
of God in one of the mosques ofKiifah. Immediately the two of them
found themselves in Kiifah, transported thither from Medina. The
Prophet and <AJi appeared, conversed with I;Iusayn awhile, then car-
ried him up with them to paradise. l;Iusayn returned to earth and
smiled, saying, '0 A~bagh, to Sulayman [Solomon] was given the
wind in its going and coming, 67 for the distance of a month's journey,
but I was granted greater things than those to Sulayman.' After a long
discourse on the virtues of the Holy Family, I:Iusayn continued, 'We
are those who possess the knowledge of the Book and the elucidation
of what is contained therein .... ' 611
As a child, l;Iusayn foretold his own martyrdom and that Ibn Sa<d
was to lead the armies of the U mayyads against him. When the
Prophet was asked if he had told this to l;Iusayn, he replied, 'No, his
knowledge is my knowledge, and my knowledge is his, for we know
of the occurrence of events before they occur. ' 69
Like prophets, the imams are given the power of miracles as proof of
their imamate. Yet the miracles attributed to Imam l;Iusayn are, for the
most part, meant to assert not only his supernatural power and favor
with God, but his great knowledge and wisdom as well. A few
examples will suffice to show these special characteristics of his
miraculous powers.
Two men came to l;Iusayn with a woman and her child, each man
claiming the child to be his own. The woman favored the claim of one
over the other, but still the matter seemed insoluble. l;Iusayn faced the
qiblah, muttered a few words of prayer that no one understood, then
addressed the suckling baby with the command, 'Speak by God's
permission and tell the truth.' The baby said that he was the child of
neither of the men but of a certain shepherd, gave his name and
whereabouts, and was silent again. 70
Another time, a young man came to Imam l;Iusayn in tears, .saying
that his mother, a woman of considerable wealth, had died without
making a will. l;Iusayn said to his companions, 'Let us go to see this
upright [literally, free] woman'. He went and sat at her head and
prayed that she be revived in order to utter her will. As soon as he
finished praying, the dead woman sneezed and sat up. She pronounced
the two shahadahs and greeted the Imam as befitted his dignity. She
then stated her wishes concerning her wealth and other matters, lay
down and returned to death. 71
Another account tells how he cured a man suffering from a terrible
fever (hummah) by commanding it to leave his body;,. the fever obe-
diently left, uttering a word of submission. This last miracle is told in
many of our sources, and it sounds more like magic than the saintly
power of miracles. A speaking fever, acknowledging the imamate of
all the imams and declaring itself to be one of their followers, is too
fantastic even for a miracle. 72 Aqother story tells how, during the
caliphate of<All, the people ofKiifah once came to him complaining
of the lack of rain which had threatened them and their animals with
destruction. <AlJ asked l;:lusayn to rise and pray for rain. 73 He stood up
and prayed for a long time, and no sooner had he finished his prayer
than it began to rain so heavily that the neighbouring valleys over-
flowed with water. 74
Miracles performed by prophets, imams and the pious friends of
Ijusayn's virtues and later years 87
God (awliya>) are meant to prove the intimate relationship between

God and His friends, as well as the favor (karamah) they enjoy with
Him. To be sure, this last aspect of the meaning and purpose of miracles
is associated with the saints ofSufism especially. To think, hoyvever,
that karamah is the gift of the ~uft saint alone is to ignore many pietistic
traditions which assert that the Prophet is also a wall. This same term is
often directly applied to the imams in many important traditions.
Miracles such as God providing food for prophets, imams and saints,
especially fruits out of season, are quite common. We have already
encountered examples of these in the first chapter of this study.
Another typical example is related in Data>il al-Imamah of Tabar!: <Ali
al-Akbar, the eldest son ofBusayn, expressed a desire for grapes at a
time when grapes were not in season. His father, not wishing to
disappoint him, reached up to a pillar of the mosque and brought
down grapes and bananas. He gave the fruits to his son, saying, 'What
God has in store for his friends (awllya') is far greater than this. ' 75
Busayn is portrayed in both ShN and Sunni tradition as a man of
deep piety, humility, generosity and wisdom. Many moving stories
tell ofhis acts of magnanimity and generosity, all done in an attitude of
humility before God, and compassion and gentleness toward men. He
once saw a group of poor youths, for example, eating hard bread
crumbs on the side of the road. They invited him to share their modest
repast, which he did. Then he took them all to his home, fed and
clothed them, and with characteristic humility commented, 'They are
more generous than I am, because they gave all they had while I gave
only a little of what I had.' He then recited, 'Verily, God loves not
them that are proud. ' 76
On another occasion, a maidservant greeted him with a fragrant
flower (rayhan ). He replied, 'You arc free for the face of God.' An old
companion of the Prophet, then present, protested that she had
greeted her master in a way befitting a servant. But Busayn said;
'Have you not read God's words, 'When ye are greeted with a greet-
ing, greet ye with a better one than it or return it." The best greeting
that I could offer in return for hers is to set her free. '77
Busayn's clemency may be seen in the following anecdote. One day
a servant of his, we are told, incurred his anger by some mischie
Busayn was about to punish him, when the servant quoted to him
words of the Qur>an: 'Oh master, "those who restrain their

rage .... '". l:lusayn answered, 'Let him go, I have controlled my
rage.' The servant continued, ' ... and are forgiving toward man-
kind... '. The master said, 'We have forgiven you.' The servant then
added, 'God loves the good-doers. ' 78 The Imam replied, 'You are free
for the face of God.' He then gave the servant a large gift. 79 Thus the
anger of the mild and magnanimous Imam is seen to have been turned
into generous clemency when confronted with the divine injunctions
for forgiveness.
l:lusayn's compassion and concern for the poor and destitute are
attested to in an interesting observation attributed to Mu<awiyah. This
Umayyad ruler, the old enemy of <Ali and his family, compared
l:lusayn's attitude toward wealth with that of his brother I;Iasan.
Mu<awiyah sent the two brothers rich gifts of clothes, musk and-other
valuable goods, remarking that al-I;Iasan would no doubt give a good
share of these presents to his wives and other women, but I:Iusayn
would distribute them all among the widows and orphans of the men
killed in his father's wars. 80
It is further related that when l:lusayn lay naked and headless on the
sands ofKarbala>, people inquired about the trace of black scars on his
back. His son, <Ali Zayn ai-<Abidin, explained that they were the result
ofhis father's carrying so many heavy sacks of provisions on his back
to the homes of the widows and orphans of Medina, something he
used to do at night to hide his good deeds from other men. 81
That the Imam lived out dynamically in his daily life the obligations
ofhis faith may be seen in his reply to a man inquiring why God had
instituted the fast of Ramadan. He replied, 'God made fasting obliga-
tory in order that the rich may feel the pain ofhunger, and thus share
their wealth more generously with the poor. ' 82 In one of his sermons,
he said with regard to the spirit and meaniqg of giving, 'The needs that
people bring before you are among God's favors towards you. Do not,
therefore, spurn divine favo~s. lest they be turned into curses upon
you. '83 It is clear from these brief quotations of the many sayings
attributed to l:lusayn that it was much easier for him to give than to
ask. He is quoted as saying, 'The man of need who spares not his face
from the shame of indignity of asking you, deserves that you spare
your own face the shame of refusing to grant his request. ' 84
.f;lusayn's virtues and later years 89
Ancient Arabian gallantry, or manliQess (murnwwah), was a well-

known virtue in Arab society before and after the establishment of
Islam. The Islamic ideal sought not to substitute religion (din) for it, as
Goldziher argued, 85 but rather to temper its excesses with faith or d'in.
This great virtue expresses itself best in the ideal of karam, a term
expressing generosity in giving, hospitality to strangers, and the gen-
eral idea of nobility of character. We have seen this ideal expressed in
the wise sayings of Jmaml:lusayn; it remains for us to show how it is
emphasized in accounts of his actual dealings with people, especially
those who were total strangers to him.
A bedouin beggar stood at I:Iusayn's door while he was standing in
prayer and recited the following verses:
He who comes to you shall not be turned away empty-handed from
your door. For you are a generous man, a man of noble substance.
Was not your father the slayer of reprobates?
I:Iusayn cut short his prayer and went to the door where he saw a man
whose appearance betrayed poverty and privation. He called his ser-
vant and asked what was left of the money they had. He was told two
hundred dirhams, which the Imam had directed be distributed among
the members of his own family. But I:Iusayn said, 'Bring the money
out, for here comes one who is more worthy of it than they are.' He
then handed tpe money to the man, his face turned from him, and
recited in answer to his verses:
Here, take this [parcel of coins] and know that I apologize to you
with all sympathy and compassion. Had our means been better, our
heaven would have poured upon you [i.e., we would have given to
you as generously as heaven pours forth its rain]. But the fear of
death [i.e., judgment after death] is a thing too terrible to bear; yet
our fist has little more to give.
Gratefully, the man received the gift and went away, reciting:
Pure and unblemished are their garments [meaning persons] and
prayers pour upon them wherever they may be mentioned. For with
you (ahl al-bayt) is the Knowledge of the Book, and all that which its
siirahs taught. For a man to be an A lid when he recounts his lineage,
, can there be greater nobility than this among men? 86
I;:Iusayn's gallantry and magnanimity are recounted by many his-

torians and traditionists of early Islam. R7 Enough has been said in this
chapter to demonstrate these qualities of the Imiim. Of greater sig-
nificance for our purposes, however, are the supernatural charac-
teristics attributed to him, characteristics that are beyond human
comprehension. The sixth Imiim ,J a<far, declared that knowledge of the
imiims (or their secret [hadith ]) is too difficult to bear even for an angel
near the divine throne or a prophet sent by God. RR This statement can
be understood in two ways. First, theimiims in their essential beings are
so marvellous that information concerning them, that is, their hadith,
is of so exalted a nature that even an angel or a prophet cannot keep it
to himself, but must declare it to another angel or prophet. Secondly,
the mystery of the imiims is too great for most of mankind to bear, and
therefore, it should not be declared in all its awesome aspects except
to the chosen few.
This second sense is concretely expressed in the following anecdote.
A group of men came one day to I;:Iusayn to ask that he tell them
something of the imiims' high favors (faqii>il) with God. I;:Iusayn
answered by cautioning them that they would not be able to bear such
knowledge if he were to disclose it to them. When they persisted, he
reluctantly agreed to talk to each one of them separately. Taking one
aside, he spoke to him for a few moments. Immediately, the man lost
his senses and was unable to speak. The others left I;:Iusayn in won-
derment and terror. Of course, we are not told what the man heard, as
he himself went mad, and some sources suggest that he was made to
forget what he had heard. R9
It has been argued in this study that the supernatural character of the
imiims is due mainly to the fact that they are heirs to the ~pedal
knowledge and hence the authority of the prophets. In our discussion
of the imiims in the previous chapter, we saw that their knowledge was
a special gift from God, who alone knows all things. While they do
not have absolute divine knowledge, the imiims are granted special
knowleqge such as the time and manner of their death. 90 Like the
imiims before and after him, I;:Iusayn knew the time and manner of his
own tragic end in all its gory details. Sh;<i theologians and tradi-
tionists insist on this fact, and present many proofs and arguments
in its support. 91 When I;:Iusayn decided to journey to Iraq, Umm
1-fusayn's virtues and later years 91
Salamah is said to have sent for him, seeking to dissuade him from his
journey by reminding him of all that the Prophet had told her regard-
ing him. If he went to Iraq, she warned, he would surely be killed.
J:lusayn, however, answered:
By God, 0 mother, I shall be killed without any doubt. There is no

escape from the predestined decree of God; there is no escape for me
from death. Indeed, I know the day and hour, and the spot wherein I
shall be killed. I know the place whereon I shall fall, and the spot in
which I shall be buried, as I know you. If you wish that I show you
my resting place and that of the men who will be martyred with me,
I will. 92
Then he prayed, invoking the great name of God. The earth began
to sink down until he showed her his burial place and that of his
companions. Then he gave her some of the soil of Karbala>, which
she mixed with the soil the Prophet had given her when J:lusayn
was yet a chiici, telling her to watch for the tenth of Mul;tarram,
the day of <Jishura>, when he would be killed after the afternoon
prayers. 93
Like many martyrs before and after him, Imam I:Iusayn has been
generally considered by Islamic tradition to be a sacred sacrifice
offered on the altar of truth, the truth that continues to guide human
history to it ultimate fulfillment in accordance with the will and plan
of God. He, like all true martyrs 'in the way of God', faced his struggle
with death with courage, piety and confidence. Yet this assurance was
often overshadowed by the sorrow and tears of a human person who
loved life and feared death. In what is generally considered his last
speech, his parting words to the people of Medina, we see some of the
depth of those human feelings expressed in the context of submission
to the unalterable Divine Will, acceptance of the divine decree, and a
plea for his friends to share this painful yet glorious ordeal.
Death has been traced [i.e., prescribed] for the so11s of Adam, as the
tracing of the necklace around the neck of a young maiden. How
great is my longing for'my forebears, it is as the longing ofJacob for
Joseph. A martyrdom was decreed for me, which I shall soon meet. I
see my limbs [or, perhaps entrails] cut off and devoured by the
beasts of the wilde"rness on the plain ofKarbala>. They shall fill of me

their empty stomachs.... There is no escape from a day decreed by
the writ of the pen. 94
After these words and the despair-filled submission they express,
I:Iusayn went on to affirm his trust and grateful acceptance of the
divine will, identifying the pleasure of the Holy Family with that of
God.
God's pleasure is our pleasure, we people of the House (ahl al-bayt),
we bear His afflictions patiently and He repays us with the rewards
of those who are patient. Verily, the flesh of the Apostle of God
[meaning his family] shall never be separated from him. Rather, it
shall be gathered together for him in the precincts of sanctity (haf/irat
al-quds). There, in the Gardens of Paradise Uinan) shall his eyes be
consoled fn them, and God shall fulfill His promises to them. 95
With these words of assurance, the Imam then invited his hearers to
join him, challenging them to sacrifice their souls for him and his
family, so that they might meet God with him. He ended his oration
by declaring his intention to leave for Iraq on the following morning.
I:Iusayn regarded his martyrdom as a victory, as we read in a brief
letter he is said to have sent to the members of his family, the sons of
Hashim: 'He among you who joins us will be martyred, and he who
remains behind shall not achieve conquest ([ath ). '96
In the following chapter, we shall follow the Imam from Medina to

Mecca, then with his few but brave companions to Karbala>. Finally,
from there, we shall follow the captives accompanying the head of the
grandson of the Prophet to Damascus and back to Medina. It must be
emphasized once more that our interest in this study is not in the
history of I:Iusayn, but rather in the history of Shj<'i hagiography
concerning him. Our task is, however, to study the l:lusayn of devo-
tion, the great personality of Sh'i<'i piety whose death became a cosmic
event, the central focus of human history.
4
The W r6nged Martyr

al-Shah!d al-Ma~lum 1
The martyrdom of lmiim I:Iusayn cannot be properly understood if

considered merely as an isolated event in the early history of the
Muslim community. Nor can we dismiss it as a melodrama caused by
the stubbornness of an obdurate and politically naive man. 2 It must
rather be placed in the context oflslamic history from the beginning of
the Prophet's career at Medina down to our own time. It has been
repeatedly argued in this study that the death ofJ:Iusayn, at least for the
Shr<l community, provides a focal point from which prior, as well as
subsequent, history must be viewed. One can still hear from the
pulpits of Shr<! mosques that 'J:Iusayn was killed on the day of tht?'
Saqifah. ' 3
We have already seen in the previous chapter that I:Iusayn has been
regarded by both Shcl and Sunnl tradition as a man of piety, idealism,
nobility of character and ascetic detachment from the world. As an
idealist, he could not have agreed with his brother's decision to aban-
don his claims to the caliphate in favor of Mucawiyah. A careful
reading of Shr<l and Sunnl sources would convince anyone that
J:Iusayn's primary motive was not love of power, wealth, or any such
material or political ambition. 4 Rather, he upheld uncompromisingly
an Islamic ideal of social and political life which he saw violated in the
rule ofMucawiyah, and even more so in the illegitimate usurpation of
power by the latter's son Yazid. He strongly opposed his brother's
compromising decision, although he finally accepted it, but with great
trepidation. A Sunnl writer quotes a statement of J:Iusayn which
describes graphically his vehement disapproval. J:Iusayn said, 'Even if
my nose had be~n cut off with a razor, that would have been more
agreeable to me than that which my brother has done. ' 5
I:Iusayn's attitude, as we shall see in this chapter, finally cost him his
life. We shall first present in this chapter a briefhistorical background
to the events of Karbalal. Secondly, we shall deal with the early
accounts ofi:Iusayn's martyrdom and the events leading to it. Finally,
94 The wronged martyr
we shall examine some of the later interpretations of this event. As in

the rest of this study, our concern here is mainly with the I;Iusayn of
piety rather than the I:iusayn of history. It will be seen that although
early historians have treated I;Iusayn's martyrdom with varying
degrees of objectivity, this event has never been regarded by Muslims
as a mere historical event.
4.1 THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
During the long reign of Mu'awiyah, and especially after the death of
his brother I;Iasan, I;Iusayn received many pledges of support from the
ShN followers ofhis father and brother in Iraq calling him to revolt.
He always answered that there was a pact between them, that is, he and
his brother, and Mu'awiyah, which he could not break as long as
Mu'awiyah lived. 6 Yet I;Iusayn intended to advance his claim for the
caliphate after Mu'awiyah's death, counting on the support of his
followers (Shi'ah) and that of the Muslims in general. He may have
been encouraged by the political intrigues and coercion that
Mu'awiyah used to secure the position ofhis own son, Y azid, as heir to
the caliphal office. According to some historians, an agreement be-
tween Mu'awiyah and I;Iasan stated that, at the death of the former, the
caliphate would revert back to l:lasan, or, in the event of his death, to
his brother I:Iusayn. 7 Mu'awiyah's designation ofhis son Yazid as his
successor had a far-reaching effect on the ideal and institution of the
caliphate. Thereafter, the caliphate lost its original character. In the
eyes of Muslim historians, jurists and the general population, it be-
came a monarchy modeled after the imperial powers of Iran and
Byzantium. Thus, although the honorific title 'Commander of the
Faithful' (am'ir al-mu'min'in) continued to be used, the caliph was re-
garded more as a king than a caliph in the original sense of this word.
The change may have been inevitable culturally and politically, but it
still had drastic consequences in the religious and political life of the
community.
Mu'awiyah, architect of this change, is portrayed by Sunn'i as well as
Shi''i tradition, in his last days, as an old wise man full of remorse and
repentance. He is shown admitting the wrong he had done the family
The historical background 95
of Mubammad and, in a tone of deep regret, charging his sonY azid to

show them all leniency, respect and magnanimity as befits their status
with God and the community. 11
The words attributed to Mu<awiyah as his final will to Yazid
deserve some attention, as they show the high regard in which I:Iusayn
was held even by his enemies. After speaking toY azid of the wrong he
had done <Ali and his sons for his sake, Mu<awiyah said of I:Iusayn:
As for I:Iusayn ... what can I tell you concerning him? Be careful
not to confront him except in a good way. Extend to him a free hand
[literally, a long rope], and let him roam the earth as he pleases. Do
not harm him, yet show him the thunder and lightening [of your
anger]. Never confront him with the weapons of war ... but rather
bestow on him generous gifts. Give him a place of honor near you
and treat him with due reverence. Be careful 0 my son, that you do
not meet God with his blood, lest you be among those that will
perish. 9
Mu<awiyah then declared that I:Iusayn was ' ... the remnant of the
people of God on the earth in his day'. 10
Mu<awiyah died in Rajah 60/680, while Yazid was, according to
some traditions, in I:Iawran on a hunting trip. 11 In that year; al-Walid
Ibn <utbah, a member of the Umayyad house, was the governor of
Medina. Yazid wrote to him asking that he take the allegiance (bay<ah)
of the people of Medina, by force if necessary; he should be especially
strict witb I:Iusayn. Some 'writers add that Y azid included in his letter a
tiny piece of parchment as big as a mouse's ear on which he added,
'Take the allegiance (bay<ah) of <Abdallah son of <umar, <Abd al-
Rabman, son of Abii Bakr, <Abdallah Ibn al-Zubayr and I:Iusayn Ibn
<Ali with extreme force, allowing for no excuses, and if anyone of
them refuses, have him beheaded and send me his head.' 12 It is
noteworthy that the opposition Yazid feared was from the sons ofthe
Prophet's closest companions, two of whom were the sons of the first
and second caliphs.
When the letter ofY azid reached al-Walid, he called for Marwan Ibn
al-I:Iakam to consult with him concerning I:Iusayn and Ibn al-Zubayr,
as he knew that these two would not easily submit to Yazid's offers.
Marwan advised al-Walid to send immediately for them and ask them
to give their bay 1ah at once; if they refused, he should have them
beheaded before the news of Mu 1awiyah's death spread in the city.
Later in the afternoon, l;:lusayn and Ibn al-Zubayr were called to the
governor's house. l;:lusayn divined the reason for such an unusual
summons at that late hour; he gathered a number of armed men whom
he stationed at the door of the governor's house when he went in. He
instructed the men to storm the house if his voice got too loud or if he
called for help.
Al-Walid read Yazid's letter to l;:lusayn reporting the death of
Mu 1awiyah and asking the people of Medina to acknowledge him as
his father's successor. l;:lusayn answered that the governor would
surely prefer to have him give his bay 1ah not in secret but rather openly
with the rest of the people the following morning. 13 According to
another tradition, l;:lusayn refused to acknowledge Yazid's claim to
such a sacred office, and contrasted that false claim and Yazid's charac-
ter with the family of the Prophet and his own rightful claim to be the
successor of his grandfather. He said:
We are the household of prophethood, frequented by angels, the
essence of apostleship and the locus of the descent of divine mercy.
With us God opened [with Abraham the Prophet?], and with us He
has closed [with Muhammad?]. Yazid, however, is a reprobate, a
drinker of wine and one killing [the innocent] soul [unlawfully] and
practicing openly all manners of corruption. A man like me there-
fore cannot give bay 1ah to one like Yazid. Still we shall see on the
morrow and you too shall see who of us is more worthy of the
caliphate and the bay<ah. 14
Al-Walid agreed that }:iusayn should come with the rest of the people,
but Marwan advised that l;:lusayn be either imprisoned until he would
assent or be executed. l;:lusayn, however, confronted Marwan with
angry threats and left the governor's house. 15 Al-Walid's reproachful
answer to Marwan expresses once more the general respect l;:lusayn
enjoyed in the early community of Muslims:
Woe to another than yourself, 0 Marwan [euphemistically used to
mean woe to you], you have chosen for me that in which will be the
destruction of my faith (din). By God even ifl were to possess all the
Early accounts and interpretations of ljusayn 's martydom 97
wealth of this world on which the sun rises and sets, and in return I
would have to kill I:Iusayn, I would choose otherwise. Should I kill
J:Iusayn simply because he said 'I shall not give allegiance'; by God I
do not believe that there would be any man whose balance would be
lighter on the Day of Judgment than one judged for the blood of
I:Iusayn. 16
That same night Ibn al-Zubayr fled secretly to Mecca, taking by-
roads in order to avoid the pursuing forces of the Umayyad gov-
ernment. J:Iusayn could not have remained in Medina for long before
he also would be harassed by the authorities. While the Umayyad
troops went in search oflbn al-Zubayr, they left I:Iusayn alone for that
day. He met Marwan on the street, however, who advised him to
submit to Yazid's rule, as other men did, and not to create discord
among the people. Here again I:Iusayn's answer typifies clearly his
view of Islam protected by a leader such as Y azid: ' " ... Surely we
belong to God, and to Him we return," 17 for Islam would be ruined if
the community (ummah) is to be afflicted with a shepherd such as
Yazid.' 18
4.2 EARLY ACCOUNTS AND INTERPRETATIONS OF J:IuSAYN'S

MARTYRDOM
J:Iusayn, as we have observed, could not have remained in Medina

without giving up his opposition to Yazid. This he could not do,
however, and still uphold idealism and strict adherence to the
requirements oflslam as he saw them. His long standing opposition to
Mucawiyah as well, which after the death ofl:lasan placed him in the
position ofleadership in the struggle against Umayyad rule, kept him
from accepting Y azid.
Shiel piety has viewed the martyrdom of I:Iusayn as a divinely
preordained event, a view strongly expressed in the Sh~l theology of
the imams. Although much has been read back by later hagiographers
and even historians in support of this view, still it would not have been
difficult for his friends and relatives to predict his tragic end, as, we are
told, many of them did. Even if the martyrdom of I:Iusayn is not
considered as a preordained event from the viewpoint of Shl'l theo-

logy of the imams, still J:Iusayn's friends and relatives would have
anticipated his tragic end.
His difficult plight and struggle against bitter fate were predicted
with amazing accur_;tcy by his half-brother Mul}ammad Ibn al-
J:Ianafiyyah, in his last words of farewell to J:Iusayn before the latter
left for Mecca. Ibn al-J:Ianafiyyah first advised his brother to seek
refuge in Mecca or Yemen, or to roam the earth, until he was sure of
popular support and possible victory. He counselled, 'Avoid, with
your family, Yazid son ofMu<awiyah as far as you can. Send out in the
meanwhile your emissaries to the people calling them to yourself If
the people then pledge allegiance to you give thanks to God for that;
but if they agree on someone else, God would not because of this
diminish your faith (din) or wisdom; nor would he cause you to lose
your manliness or virtue. ' 19 In the last sentence it is clear that J:Iusayn's
social and spiritual status in the community depended in great measure
on his decision at that crucial point in Islamic history. Predicting the
outcome of his brother's course of action in the case of a direct
confrontation, Ibn al-I:Ianafiyyah continued:
I fear for you that you may enter one of the provinces where men
would disagree regarding you, one group being with you and
another against you. Then they would fight among themselves, and
you would be the first target of their weapons. Thus the best man of
this community, in its noblest oflineage, would be the one whose
blood is most senselessly shed, and his family utterly humiliated. 20
It was suggested above that J:Iusayn was driven by uncompromising
idealism on a course which, he as well as others knew, was to lead to
his death. This idealism in turn led, we believe, to a deep rift in Islam
that was never to be healed. Most of our sources report the tradition
that J:Iusayn was supposed to have written his final will with his own
hand, sealed it, and entrusted it to his brother Ibn al-J:Ianafiyyah at
their last meeting. Again this will contains yet another statement of
I:Iusayn's motives in championing the revolt against the Umayyad
ruler. He wrote:
... I have not risen up in revolt out of evil intent or greed, neither to
perpetuate corruption nor wrongdoing. Rather I did so in quest of
Early accounts and interpretations of l-Jusayn's martydom 99
establishing right order (i~lah) in the community (ummah) of my

grandfather.... I wish to enjoin right conduct (ma<ruj) and dissuade
from that which is unsalutory (munkar) and follow the example of
my grandfather and my father <Ali Ibn Abi Talib. 21 If men would
accept me in truth, it is to God that they would render acceptance,
for He is worthy of all truth. But if they reject me I would bear it
with patience and submit to God's judgment between me and the
people, for He is the best of judges. 22
I:Iusayn left Medina for Mecca by night, probably two days before the
end of Rajah (60/680). 23 Unlike Ibn al-Zubayr, however, I::Iusayn
followed the main road, refusing to hide his intentions of opposition
and revolt. His mission seemed to him like that of the Prophet Moses
against the Egyptian Pharaoh, oppressor of the Prophet's people.
I:Iusayn left Medina repeating the Qurlanic verse attributed to Moses,
'So he departed therefrom fearful and vigilant ... ' and like him, he
prayed, ' ... My Lord, deliver me from the people of the evildoers.'
Again like Moses when he drew nigh to the land of the Midianites,
I:Iusayn prayed as he approached Mecca, 'It may be that my Lord will
guide me on the right way. ' 24
l:lusayn stayed in Mecca for about four months, leaving it before
completing his pilgrimage rites (hajj). 25 Soon after he arrived in M,ecca
he sent his cousin Muslim, son of 1Aqil, to Kiifah to prepare the
ground for him. l:lusayn had, in the meantime, received many letters
and emissaries from Kiifah calling him to lead the opposition against
Yazid, and pledging their absolute support. Muslim left Mecca in
Ramadan, and finally arrived in Kiifah after suffering many hardships
on that fateful journey. First he lost heart when he and his two guides
lost their way, and the two men perished of thirst. Midway, he wrote
to I:Iusayn, asking to be relieved of this task whose success he had
doubted from the start. But I:Iusayn insisted that he continue on his
mission, charging him with cowardice. 26
At the time Muslim arrived in Kiifah, its governor was al-Nu<man
b. Bashir. The governor knew of the activities of Muslim, who was
quickly rounding up the supporters of I:Iusayn in readiness for his
arrival. But as he was a mild man, not wishing to do harm to members
of the family of the Prophet, or at least initiate hostilities, he did
nothing to stop Muslim. <umar Ibn sa<d b. Abi Waqqa~ 27 and other
supporters wrote to Yazid of Muslim's popularity in the city, advising
stern measures as al-Nu<man was too weak to deal with the situation.
Yazid's court secretary Sarjiin, a Syrian Christian, produced a
document in which Mu<awiyah had stipulated that <ubaydallah Ibn
Ziyad be given the governorship of Kiifah in addition to that of
Ba~rah, which he was already governing. Ziyad, <ubaydallah's father,
was a slave who had been adopted into the Umayyad house by
Mu<awiyah as his own brother. 28 According to Sh'N tradition, Ibn
Ziyad was an illegitimate child by virtue ofhis father's lineage. As the
story goes, Abu Sufyan, Mu<awiyah's father, was drunk one night,
and in his drunkenness he seduced Sumayyah, Ziyad's mother, mak-
ing Ziyad and his descendants children of adultery. Later, however,
Mu<awiyah was impressed with the intelligence ofZiyad, and wishing
to elevate him and save his own father's reputation, decided to adopt
his illegitimate brother into his family. He did so against the clear
injunction ofthe Prophet's saying (hadlth) 'A child belongs to the bed
[marriage bed] of the parents, and to the harlot Nhir) the stone [i.e.,
stoning]. ' 29
Ibn Ziyad was a resourceful and often cruel politician who spared
nothing in order to attain his political ends. His strong and ruthless
character, coupled with his impure lineage, rendered Ibn Ziyad the
arch-symbol of evil and even infidelity (kufr) in Sh1<1 popular piety.
We are told that Muslim was enthusiastically received by the Kiifans
and at once began gathering supporters and arms. Encouraged by this
initial success, he wrote to J:Iusayn urging him to make haste; since the
people were waiting for him and would do nothing except by his
command. 30 Prior to sending Muslim, J:Iusayn had received more
than fifty letters from Iraq, urging him to come and take command of
an army waiting for him. 31 The last letter from the Kiifans described
the general festive rejoicing of nature at the prospect of J:Iusayn's
arrival, seen symbolically as the prevailing of good over evil: ' ...
behold the earth had become verdant with green grass, fruits have
ripened, and trees are adorned with leaves.... ' 32
With the last two of the Kiifan messengers, J:Iusayn himself sent a
letter stating his aim in declaring opposition to Yazid's rule, and
elucidating his ideal of what a good leader (imiim) of the Muslim
Early accounts and interpretations of lfusayn's martydom 101
community should be. He wrote, ' ... for by my life, the imam is only
he who judges according to the Book (Qur>an) and sunnah [of the
Prophet] dealingjustly with the people, binding himself to the religion
of truth (din al-haqq), and restraining himselffrom all else but God. aa
In their letters, the people ofKiifah insisted that they had no imam,
and thus they urged I;Iusayn to come to them that God may bring
them together with him to the path of truth and divine guidance.
l;Iusayn, therefore, could not but answer what he regarded to be a call
to the service of God and the community (ummah) oflslam. Whatever
other motives he may have had, this one cannot be ignored. Indeed, a
well-known Sunn'i writer reports on the authority oflbn Hisham that
the Kiifans charged l;Iusayn with transgression (ithm) ifhe would not
answer their summons. 34 Tabar!, moreover, writing on the authority
of Abu Mikhnaf, insisted on the same point, however indirectly,
throughout his narrative of the events leading to I:Jusayn's uprising
and death. 35
I;Iusayn's message to those he invited to support him in his struggle
enjoined them to the good and dissuaded them from evil. Before
leaving Mecca he wrote to the people of Ba~rah declaring that
Mubammad was chosen by God to be His Apostle and that, as his
descendants, they were his vicegerents and the executors ofhis mis-
sion after him. Then I;Iusayn continued, ' ... for behold the sunnah has
been rendered dead, and innovations are made alive. Thus if you listen
to my words and obey my commands I shall guide you to the right
path .... ' 36 But those who pledged support did so not to I:Jusayn or
his cause but to the chiefs and notables of their own tribes. Thus in the
end they did nothing to show their loyalty, a loyalty which was to men
and not to a cause. Ibn Ziyad learned of the letter shortly before
leaving for Kiifah. He had the messenger of I:Jusayn beheaded and
crucified, and threatened a similar punishment to anyone who showed
signs of revolt or disobedience. 37
Muslim at first stayed at the house of al-Mukhtar b. <ubaydallah
al-Thaqafi, a man who was to wreak havoc in the U mayyad state, and
especially in Iraq, in revenge of the blood of I:Jusayn. Ibn Ziyad,
however, began to spread informers to find out the whereabouts of
Muslim, forcing the latter to shift his base of operations to the house of
Hani b. <urwah al-Muradi, one of the notables ofKiifah. When Ibn
Ziyad finally learned of Muslim's hiding place he sent for Hani, whom
he beat severely and finally executed. Before Hani's death, Sharik
al-A 1war, a friend oflbn Ziyad, who was secretly of the Shr-ah of 1Ali,
had fallen ill. Ibn Ziyad had come to visit his friend, and Sharik and
Muslim had conspired to kill the governor during th~t visit. As Ziyad
sat by Sharik's bedside, Muslim was to come out and kill him. But
Muslim at the last moment abandoned the plan, and Ibn, Ziyad went
home safe but deeply suspicious. Muslim did not kill his enemy, first
because Hani did not wish him to be killed within his house, and
secondly because he recalled a hadlth of the Prophet which says, 'Faith
(imiin) is a restraint against treachery, so let no believer commit a
treacherous act'. 38
When Muslim heard of the death of Hani, he went out with his
supporters to invade the palace and kill Ibn Ziyad. The latter, how-
ever, using threats and bribes, told the n_otables of Kiifah, then with
him, to talk to. the mob outside and persuade them to desert Muslim.
At last Muslim was left alone; after a bitter struggle, he was captured
and brought before Ibn Ziyad. After a long exchange of harsh words
between the two men, Muslim was taken up to the roof of the palace
and beheaded, his head and corpse thrown down into the marketplace
below in order to intimidate the populace.
This story of Muslim has received much attention from Sh-;<1 writers
and popular piety. We have indicated his moral uprightness in choos-
ing not to attack a man unawares, as enjoined by the Prophet. This
virtue, together with his phenomenal bravery and magnanimity, are
strongly stressed and highly dramatized by the ShN community.
Muslim was the first of the martyrs of Karbala>, and, like other
martyrs among the immediate relatives ofl:Iusayn, his heroic role and
personality grew with the passing years in the rich soil of pietistic
imagination.
It has been argued above that I:Iusayn was an idealist who could not
compromise his principles; thus it may be said that he lacked the
flexibility and diplomatic tact of a politician. It was argued further
that, as an idealist, he could not break a promise he made, even if it
would cost him his life. We shall return presently to this point, but it
must be added here that the aura of mystery, a sense of preordained
fate latent in many of the statements attributed to I:Iusayn, cannot be
Early accounts and interpretations of l-Jusayn's martydom 103
explained on purely political grounds. Nor can this aspect be ignored

if the story ofl;Iusayn is to be at all appreciated, let alone understood.
We see, in fact, three motives operating in the drama of I;lusayn's
martyrdom: his idealism, the belief that his fate was predetermined,
and the certainty he seems to have had that he either had to submit or
be killed. These three motives, however, cannot be separated.)
Both in Medina and Mecca, J:Iusayn insisted that his actions were
taken in response to a direct divine command. When his brother, Ibn
al-J:Ianafiyyah, protested against J:Iusayn's hasty departure, the latter
answered that' ... the Apostle of God came to me in a dream and said,
"0 I;lusayn, depart [in revolt] for God has willed to see you killed." '
To the further protest that he should not expose his women and
children to such a danger, I:Iusayn replied: ' ... God has willed to see
them captives. ' 39
Likewise in Mecca many came to him advising submission, or at
least passive resistance, by simply refusing to give his approval of the
new regime. But I:iusayn knew that he had only two alternatives. The
first was to give allegiance to Yazid, and thus disobey a divine com-
mand and also live as a coward and a traitor in the eyes ofhis followers
(Shi 1ah). The other alternative, soon apparent in the course of events,
was to resist and be killed if necessary. To those who opposed his plan
in Mecca, he said that he would rather be killed outside the holy city, in
order that its sanctity not be violated by the shedding of blood. In a
statement which Tabari reports on the authority of I;lusayn's com-
panions (who are not identified), J:Iusayn expresses the same idea even
more graphically, and predicts the fate ofhis opponents after his death.
By God they shall not leave me alone until they extract that leech
from my throat. 40 Yet if they do that, God would empower over
them one who would so humiliate them until they become the most
humiliated of all communities. 41
Just outside Mecca, J:Iusaytt met the famous poet, al-Farazdaq, who,
with great surprise, inquired why J:Iusayn had left Mecca before
completing his ~ajj. I;lusayn again answered, 'Had I not left in haste, I
would have been arrested. ' 42 To another man who put the same
question to him, I;lusayn gave a rather revealing answer. 'The sons of
Umayyah usurped my possessions, and I bore that patiently; they
reviled my honor and I bore that patiently too. Then they sought my
life, and so I fled. ' 43 f:Iusayn 's fear of being arrested, or even killed, by
men sent by Yazid especially for that purpose, is expressed in an
interesting letter which Ibn <Abbas, f:Iusayn's cousin, sent to 1Yazid
after I:Iusayn's death. Ibn 1Abbas reprimanded Yazid for being so
audacious as to seek his support after killing so many men of his
family. Speaking off:Iusayn, he continued, '... how can I forget the
way you chased f:Iusayn out from the sacred house (haram), of God
and His Apostle, and your writing to Ibn Murjanah [Ibn Ziyad].
ordering him to kill f:Iusayn.' Later in the letter Ibn 1Abbas returns to
the same theme, ' ... Have you forgotten that you sent your sup-
porters to the sacred house of God to drive f:Iusayn out, and how
you continued to frighten him until you forced him to depart for
Iraq .... ' 44
In a tradition reported on the authority of<Ali Zayn al-1Abidin, the
only surviving son of f:Iusayn, we are told that <Abdallah Ibn Ja<far,
f:Iusayn's cousin, learning ofhis departure from Mecca, prevailed on
the governor, 1Amr Ibn Sa1id, to write a letter of reconciliation and
security for f:Iusayn. This the governor did, and Ibn Ja 1far and the
governor's brother Y al)ya carried the letter to him, just outside the
city. 1Abdallah moreover preceded that letter with one of his own,
urging f:Iusayn to reconsider his plans and, in any case, to wait for him,
as he was on his way. The letter was carried by 1Abdallah's two sons,
who stayed with f:Iusayn and were killed with him. Again f:Iusayn
refused to return with the two men, declaring 'I saw the Apostle of
God in a dream and he sent me on a mission which I shall fulfill, be it
for me or against me.' When asked what that dream was, he replied, 'I
have told no one, nor will I tell anyone of it until I meet my Lord. ' 45
Both in Mecca and at every stage of his journey to Karbalal, f:Iusayn
was warned by friends and relatives of the futility of his mission, and
advised to abandon it.
Our sources are not all in agreement as to when Muslim was
executed by Ibn Ziyad, or whether f:Iusayn learned ofhis death while
still in Mecca or on his way to Kiifah. 46 It is more probable that
somewhere along the way I:Iusayn was told of the death of Muslim.
He considered seriously abandoning his plan and returning to Mecca
or Medina, or at least not going to Kiifah until the situation had
Early accounts and interpretations of 1-Jusayn's martydom 105
become clearer. But the sons and brothers of Muslim objected, saying
that they would not return without either avenging the blood of
Muslim or being killed like him. I:Iusayn had no choice but to go on
with .Pis plan of revolt and revenge.
It must be observed that Muslim's last wish was that someone be
sent to I:Iusayn to report to him what had happened and urge him not
to go to Kiifah. We are told that when Muslim was captured and his
sword taken away from, he wept, saying, 'It is not for myself that I
weep, nor am I afraid of death ... but I weep for my relatives who are
coming. I weep for I:Iusayn and his family.... ' 47 Moments before his
execution, Muslim looked around in the crowd assembled in Ibn
Ziyad's court for someone to whom he could entrust his last will. Ibn
Sa~d was a Qurayshi, a cousin and the son of a close companion of the
Prophet. So Muslim requested Ibn sa<d to come aside with him; the
latter at first hesitated, until Ibn Ziyad observed that he should hear the
will of his cousin. Again Muslim asked that someone be sent to
intercept I:Iusayn on the road and prevent his coming. He asked Ibn
sa<d further to see to his burial and to sell his sword and armor to pay
some debts he was leaving behind. Ibn sa<d, however, immediately
told Ibn Ziyad what Muslim had confided to him, but Ibn Ziyad
reproached him for not keeping the confidence of his cousin.
I:Iusayn counted on the support of the Kiifans who had invited him
to come to them, as he himselfhad only a small group of relatives and
followers capable of fighting. According to most sources, his fighting
men consisted of thirty-two horsemen and forty foot soldiers. Other
authorities fix the number at forty-five horsemen and one hundred
foot soldiers, or at most several hundred fighters altogether. 48 In any
case, most of those who attached themselves to I:Iusayn, thinking him
to be a victorious conqueror and hoping for much booty, left him on
the way when they knew of Muslim's death and the uncertainty of
I:Iusayn's own fate. Thus it seems that the number of men with
I:Iusayn could have varied little from those who set out with him,
except for a few who joined later. We shall return later to consider
more closely the fighting and a few of those who took part in it.
To the end, even after I:Iusayn learned of the death of Muslim, he
hoped that the Kiifans would change their attitude and honor their
pledges of support. He sent his foster brother, <Abdallah Ibn Yaq~ur,
with yet another message reminding the people of their allegiance, and
reproaching them for their treachery. 49 Ibn Ziyad took <Abdallah and
ordered him to curse I:Iusayn and his father publicly, and praise Yazid
and his father. Instead, however, <Abdallah did exactly the opposite,
telling the people ofl:lusayn's imminent arrival. So Ibn Ziyad had him
taken to the top of the palace, and with his hands and feet bound he was
thrown down and died instantly. When I:Iusayn was later told of
<Abdallah's death, he repeated with tearful eyes:
Some of them have fulfilled their vow by death, and some are still
awaiting, and they have not changed in the least. 5 0 God make the
Garden [of paradise] an abode for them and us, and bring us with
them together into an abode of Thy mercies on the bountiful
treasures of Thy well desired rewards. 51
At the news of the death of Muslim, I:Iusayn was reassured by his
companions that he was not like Muslim; ifhe were to reach Kiifah, its
people would not abandon him. But such hopes were being shattered
with every step. Not only was every hope of success lost but even any
hope of negotiation short of surrender or death had to be abandoned.
I:Iusayn met a man from Kiifah who pleaded with him, saying:
I beg you in the name of God, 0 son of the Apostle of God, that the
sanctity of Islam not be violated. I adjure you in God's name that
you beware of the sanctity of the Apostle of God on the honor of the
Arabs, that they not be violated. For by God if you seek that which
is in the hands of the Umayyads [the power] they would kill you:
and if they were to kill you, they would fear no one after you. 52
These words turned out to be words of prophecy, as we shall see, for
not only in I:Iusayn's time, but for some time after him, chaos and
death dominated the Umayyad scene. The man's words indicate yet
another thing: that by the death ofl:lusayn the community would be
disgraced and the religion of Islam violated.
Ibn Ziyad sent al-I:Iurr Ibn Yazid al-Riyabi with a thousand horse-
men to intercept I:Iusayn and bring him captive to Kiifah. Al-I:Iurr,
however, was specifically charged to keep an eye on I:Iusayn's move-
ments and keep Ibn Ziyad informed of his activities. He met I:Iusayn
near al-Qadisiyyah, not far from Karbala>. The men and horses of
Early accounts and interpretations of Ijusayn's martydom 101
al-I;Iurr were exhausted from the heat of the desert sun and f:Iusayn
ordered his men to give both men and animals water to drink. Al-I:Iurr
again told f:Iusayn of the situation in Kufah, and warned him of the
dangers that lay ahead. When the time came for afternoon prayers,
f:Iusayn led the prayers ofboth camps. After the prayers, he delivered a
short sermon in which he reminded the men of their letters to him. He
also reminded them of his status as the grandson of the Prophet, that
he was more worthy of their allegiance and the leadership of the
community than the U mayyad rulers. But if they were now dis-
pleased with his coming, he indicated that he would return to the place
from which he had come. 53
He spoke more specifically of why he was taking such a risk,
jeopardizing his life and that of his family and friends:
0 people, the Apostle of God said during his life, 'He who sees an
oppressive ruler violating the sanctions (halal) of God, revoking the
covenant of God, opposing the sunnah of the Apostle of God,
dealing with the servant of God sinfully and cruelly; [if a man sees
such a ruler] and does not show zeal against him in word or deed,
God would surely cause him to enter his abode in the fire. ' 54
Then the Imam described the Umayyad rulers in the light of his
prophetic had'ith:
These men have verily abided by the obedience of Satan and aban-
doned the obedience of the Merciful. They have displayed all cor-
ruption: annulling the limits of God, usurping the people's wealth,
allowing what God had prohibited and prohibiting what He had
sanctioned. 55
f:Iusayn declared that he was most worthy to be zealous in the cause of
the divine law and sunnah of the Prophet. If those listening would join
him in this holy struggle (jihad), it would be for their good; if not, they
would have rejected their share of the reward for such an act offaith in
the world to come.
The men protested that they were not among those who wrote to
him; they knew nothing of such letters. He brought out two sacks full
of their letters, and many were ashamed to see their names among
those who had written. They insisted that he submit to the rule ofhis
cousins, who surely would do him no harm. J:Iusayn answered with

the words of some verses first used by a man similarly counselled
against fighting with the Prophet in the Battle of Badr.
I shall go, for there is no shame in the death of a youth if he intends
truthfulness and engages in the struggle as a Muslim.... For then if
I live I shall have no remorse and if! die I shall incur no blame. It is
sufficient humiliation for you to live and be coerced. 56
At the time of I:Iusayn's death one could hardly speak of a ShN
community in the strict sense. There were, at best, partisans for-one or
the other of the leading personalities: the party of cAll, of course, as
well as that of'Uthman and the U mayyad rulers after him.)This lack of
crystallization into the different religious sects of later times is illus-
trated within a small group ofJ:Iusayn's followers martyred with him
in Karbala>. One of these was Zuhayr Ibn al-Qayn aJ-Bajli, a pious
man who was formerly an cuthmani partisan against cAll. I:Iusayn met
him on the way, as both men and their families and friends encamped
in one spot. When I:Iusayn sent for him, Zuhayr hesitated until his
wife suggested that he go and hear what the son ofhe daughter of the
Apostle of God had to say to him. Soon Zuhayr returned with a
radiant countenance and ordered that his tent and goods be transferred
to I:Iusayn's camp. He divorced his wife and sent her home so that she
would not have to endure any hardships with him, which he foresaw
ensuing from this allegiance. To his friends and relatives he said. 'He
who wishes to join me can do so, otherwise this will be our final
parting. ' 57 One of the bitterest enemies 6f J:Iusayn, Shimr Ibn Dhi-1
Jawshan, was one of the party of<Ali before, and even fought on his
side in the battle of Siffin.
At first I:Iusayn agreed with al-J:Iurr to take a road that would lead
him neither to Kiifah nor back to al-I:Iijaz, and in the meantime,
al-I:Iurr would write to Ibn Ziyad for further instructions. Al-Tirmab
Ibn cAdi of the tribe ofTayy, then approached J:Iusayn, inviting him to
their camps where he would gather five thousand fighting men for
him. But I:Iusayn rejected his offer on the grounds that there was
between him and the Kiifans an agreement that he did not wish to
break. In another version of this tradition, al-Tirmab made the sugges-
tion once more when the two armies were on the point of fighting. He
Early accounts and interpretations of Ijusayn's martydom 109
then suggested that he and I:Iusayn should set out quietly at night, but
I:Iusayn again answered, 'Is it right for a man to save himself and let his
family perish?'5R
I:Iusayn arrived in Karbala> on Thursday the second ofMubarram in
the year of61 A.H. It is reported that he asked his followers what the
name of that place was, and they answered that it was Karbala>. He
said:
0 God, in Thee do I take refuge from sorrow (karb) and calamity
(ba[a>). This is the place of sorrow and calamity; dismount. Here will
be the spot of the end of our journey, the spot whereon our blood
shall be shed, and the spot of our graves. Of this my grandfather the
Apostle of God informed me. 59
The next day a courier came running to al-J:Iurr, and delivered a letter
to him from Ibn Ziyad. He was ordered to keep I:Iusayn away from
the water of the Euphrates, to deprive him of shelter and a place of
refuge. The messenger, moreover, was sent to keep watch and make
sure that the governor's orders were carried out. Zuhayr suggested
that they should fight al-I:Iurr and his men before many others arrived,
against whom they would never be able to prevail. I:Iusayn objected,
saying, 'I would not start the fighting. ' 60
Ibn Ziyad had appointed <u mar Ibn Sa1d as a representative (wali) of
the administration in the province of Rayy and Jurjan; in return,
 and deal
with I:Iusayn before proceeding with the Daylamites. Sending Ibn
Sa<d against I:Iusayn was no doubt a political tactic aimed at placing the
blame for J:Iusayn's death squarely on the shoulders of one of the tribe
of Quraysh, or at least sharing the blame with one who had con-
siderable standing in the community. As we shall see presently, Ibn
Ziyad used this advantage to the fullest possible degree.
When Ibn Sa<d asked to be relieved of this mission, Ibn Ziyad
insisted that he either obey his orders or be relieved of his other
administrative post as well. After a few days ofhesitation and in spite of
the advice of everyone he consulted, <umar accepted the assignment
against I:Iusayn and proceeded to Karbala> with four thousand men.
<umar went to Karbala> with the hope that an actual confrontation

with I:Iusayn could be avoided, and that he would be able to convince
the latter to give up the struggle in the face of such great danger to his
life and the lives ofhis followers. Thus Ibn sa<d sent a man to I:Iusayn,
asking the reason for his coming. I:Iusayn gave an answer essentially
the same as in the sermons he had given on the way to Karbala>. He
said that the people of Kiifah wrote to him promising allegiance and
support. If they now had changed their minds and wished to revoke
their promises, he would go back to the place from which he came.
<umar wrote of this to Ibn Ziyad and received the answer that he
should force I:Iusayn to submit to Yazid's rule by keeping him vir-
tually a prisoner in that desert place and not allowing him and his
followers to approach the waters until they gave allegiance to Yazid
or died of thirst, just as it was done to the pious <uthman Ibn
<Affin. 61
Ibn Sa<d then sent five hundred men as guards over the banks of the
Euphrates, on the seventh ofMubarram. Still Ibn Sa<d hoped to avoid
a confrontation with I:Iusayn, and the two men met often at night
between the two camps and talked at iength. According to Tabari, 62
no one actually heard what they discussed, but people surmised that
f:lusayn offered Ibn Sa<d one of three choices:
... that I return to the place from which I came, that I put my hand
in the hand of Y azid Ibn Mu<awiyah and he would see into the
matter between us; or let me go to any land you choose to be one of
its people enjoying their privileges and fulfilling their duties. 63
Most early sources do not question this tradition, generally reported
with only minor variants. f:lusayn, it seems, was willing to accept a
compromise based on one of the three choices already discussed.
Tabari presents another tradition, however, which gained greater
acceptance with the passing of time, especially among Sh'N writers.
Many writers consciously have argued, with all the apologetics poss-
ible, against any hint that f:lusayn would submit to Yazid's authority
or judgment. 64 On the authority of Abii Mikhnaf, Tabari reports that
<uqbah Ibn Sam<an said he accompanied f:lusayn on his entire journey
from Medina and heard every word he said. Ibn Sam<an insisted that
f:lusayn said nothing of what men repeated among themselves. He
rather said, 'Let me go, so that I may roam God's broad earth until we
see what will be decided among men concerning this matter. ' 65
Ibn Sacd wrote to the governor advising peace and reconciliation, as
I:Iusayn himself intended no war but rather offered to accept any one
of three means to peace. At first Ibn Ziyad agreed, praising Ibn Sacd for
his efforts. Then Shimr Ibn Dhi-1 Jawshan dissuaded him, pointing
out that if he let I:Iusayn go while he was in his domain, he would be
admitting to weakness and would never again get such an oppor-
tunity. The governor should, Shimr suggested, force I:Iusayn to sub-
mit to his own judgment; and it would be up to him to decide what
course I:Iusayn should take. Ibn Ziyad, therefore, sent him with a letter
to Ibn Sacd ordering him to demand the unconditional submission of
I:Jusayn or, failing that, to kill him and his followers. He added that if
I:Iusayn was to be killed, horses should trample his back and chest with
their hooves as a final punishment. Shimr was further instructed that if
Ibn Sacd refused to carry out the governor's orders, the leadership of
the army should go to Shimr, who was then to execute Ibn Sacd and
send his head to Ibn Ziyad. 66
Shimr carried Ibn Ziyad's message to cu mar on the ninth ofMubar-
ram. Prior to that, Ibn Sacd had carried out half-heartedly the gov-
ernor's orders to keep I:Iusayn away from the water. With fifty men,
I:Jusayn's halfbrother, aJ-CAbbas, was able to fill twenty water skins
for the thirsty men, women and children of his brother's camp. With
the coming of Shimr, however, cumar had no other choice but to
force the issue to a conclusion. In the late afternoon he gathered his
forces and marched towards I:Jusayn's tents. I:Iusayn was sitting by his
tent, leaning on his sword and dozing. His sister heard the clamour of
men and horses and ran to alert him. He woke up, startled and related a
dream he had just had of the Prophet, who had told him, '0 I:Iusayn
my beloved, you shall be coming to us soon. ' 67 I:Iusayn sent his
brother to ask Ibn Sacd to postpone the confrontation until morning so
that they could pray to God for guidance.
We are told on the authority ofi:Iusayn's son, CAli Zayn aJ-CAbidin,
that I:Iusayn and his followers spent the night before their death in
prayers and recitation of the Qur>an, so that their voices could be heard
like the buzzing ofbees. 68 Zayn al-cAbidin was then a youth and very
sick: unable to fight or leave the tent, in the end his sickness saved his
life. During the night he drew nearer to hear what his father was
saying to his companions. This short sermon, reported on his author-
ity by practically all sources with very minor variations, is a truly
moving oration:
I praise God with the best of praise, and thank Him for happiness
and misfortunes.... Furthermore, I know of no companions or
people of a household (ahl bayt) more faithful and true than my
companions and people of my household. May God therefore grant
you all the best of rewards on my behal In truth, I think that we
shall have a harsh day with these people. I therefore grant you all
leave; go away, all of you with my permission and without any
obligation to me. Behold the night has covered you so use it as a
camel. Let each of you take the hand of one member of my family
and spread abroad in the land until God sends His relie( For the
people want me, and if they find me they would be satisfied and seek
no one else. 6!1
Turning to the sons of Muslim, he said, 'Sufficient for you is the death
of your father. Make haste and save yourselves.' But they answered,
What would people say! We left our elder and master and our
cousins, the best of cousins, and did not throw an arrow, stab with a
spear, or wield the sword on their behalf; nor would we know what
had become of them. No, by God we shall not leave you, but shall
sacrifice our lives and wealth for you. We shall fight for you until we
share your lot. 70
Likewise, his friends expressed similar sentiments ofloyalty and self-
sacrifice. The words of one of them, Muslim Ibn <Awsajah, may be
taken as typical. After declaring that he would fight for I:Iusayn until
death, so that God would be a witness that he had kept the sanctity and
reverence of the Apostle of God inviolate through I:Iusayn, Muslim
concluded:
... By God not even if I know that I would be killed and brought
back to life then burnt, and again brought back to life, then scattered
as ashes in the wind, and this is repeated seventy times, I would not
leave you until I meet my death before you. How would I not do so
when it is only one death after which comes the great favor
(kariimah) of which there shall be no end. 71
Later that night, l:lusayn sat preparing his sword. As he did so, he
repeated several times the verses:
0 time (dahr) fie on you of a friend.
How many are those you claim in the morn and eventide.
Many a friend and many a one seeking revenge, yet
time is not satisfied with a meagre share.
Truly judgment belongs to the Lord of Majesty;
And to every living soul is appointed its separate path. 72
His son, (Ali, heard the verses and choked with his tears. But his aunt,
Zaynab, who was nursing him in his illness, heard her brother's words
and ran out beating her breast and cheeks and raising the lament, 'Woe
to me, I wish death had deprived me of life. Today my father, my
mother and my brother died, 0 you [I:Iusayn] the remnant of those
that went before, and the consolation of those that still are. ' 73 l:lusayn
consoled her and charged her not to lament him, rend her clothes or
scratch her face should he be killed. He ended with the old proverb,
'Had al-Qara been left alone, at night, it would have slept. ' 74
As we have seen, the followers ofi:Iusaynjoined his camp with the
knowledge that they were going to die. Their resolve to fight and die
with him had a political as well as religious basis. Among them were
men well known for their piety and integrity, and for whom partisan
considerations mattered not at all. In the morning, in preparation for
death, J:lusayn and his friends went into a tent to rub themselves with
musk and other aromatic ointments. One of them, lAbd al-RaQ.man
Ibn <Abd Rabbih al-An~ari, was waiting for his turn outside next to
another companion, Barir Ibn Khw;iayr, who began to jest with his
friend. <Abd al-RaQ.man protested, 'This is not an hour of jest and
vanity.' Barir answered:
By God, my people knew me as one despising vanity both as a
youth and a grown man. But by God, I rejoice for that which we are
soon to receive. For there is between us and the black-eyed houris
only that these men should turn upon us with their swords, and how
I wish they would have done it. 75
Our sources dwell at great length on the bravery of I:Iusayn's com-

panions and their willingness to die in his defence. A few examples ofthis
loyalty to the son of the daughter of Muhammad, a loyalty which to his
companions was an act offaith, a fulfillment ofa religious imperative, the
jihiid, or struggle in the way of God, will be discussed presently.
The night before the battle I:Iusayn had a trench dug on one side of
his camp and filled it with faggots and reeds kindled into a fire in order
to keep that side protected against the advance of the opposing army.
He also had the tents pitched close to one another, leaving only one
side open for the fighting. The day began with verbal exchanges and
skirmishes, then the people on both sides fought in single combat.
J:Iusayn mounted his horse and sat witnessing his friends falling one
by one before his eyes. With the Qur>an spread before him, he lifted up
his hands in supplication to God and uttered the following prayer:
0 God Thou art my trust in every sorrow, and my hope in every
hardship. In every difficulty I have encountered, Thou wert for me a
refuge and a strength. How many a heavy burden (hamm) which
weakens the heart and baffies the mind, renders a friend impotent
and causes the enemy to rejoice, I brought before Thee with my
complaint and Thou didst relieve me thereo Thou art the end of
my desire above all else. Thou art truly the bestower of every
bounty, the source of every blessing and goal of every desire. 76
It has been repeatedly emphasized in this study that the imam is both a
leader and a teacher, or guide to the community. In keeping with this
role, during the last moments ofi:Iusayn 's life he uttered wise counsel
in many short sermons. Our sources insist that he felt it to be a duty
laid upon him by God, to show his opponents their manifest error in
shedding the innocent blood of other Muslims and especially in vio-
lating the explicit injunction of the Prophet to love and honor his
family after him. He reminded his opposition that the Prophet said,
concerning him and his brother J:Iasan, 'They are the two masters of
the youths of the people of paradise'; and he offered a long list of still
living companions who would have attested to the truth of that
statement, which they themselves had heard from the Prophet.
Finally, he challenged them to advance a reason for their action. Was it,
he asked, in revenge of blood that he had shed or wealth that he had
usurped that now they sought his life? They gave no answer. 77 He
called on some of them by name, showing the letters they had written
to him. When they denied it he again spread before them their own
letters and those he had received from other Kiifans.
It is unnecessary to reproduce details of valor and self-sacrifice that
were supposed to have been exhibited by I:Iusayn's few followers;
most sources dwell on them at great length. The men in I;lusayn's
camp were so few that their losses stood out much more con-
spicuously than those of Ibn Sa<d. By early afternoon, about half the
men were killed; and I;lusayn led the few that remained in the prayer of
fear (s,aliit al-khawj). 78 While I:Iusayn stood to lead the prayers, one of
his followers, sa<id al-I:Ianafi, stood before him to shield him from the
arrows of the enemy. The archers used Sa<id as a target: riddled with
arrows, he fell dead. 79
Al-I:Iurr had been sent with a thousand men against I;lusayn. When
he heard I;lusayn's words and saw the uncompromising attitude oflbn
Sa1d and his army, he defected to I;lusayn's camp with deep remorse
and repentance. He stood facing Ibn sa<ds men and reproached them
for killing I;lusayn and not accepting his peace offers. It was then that
Ibn sa<d himself drew an arrow, and shooting it in the direction of
I:Iusayn's camp, said: 'Bear witness for me before the commander
(amir) [Ibn Ziyad] that I was the first to shoot an arrow.' 80 This gave
the signal for the fighting to start in earnest. Al-I:Iurr, wishing to
expiate his grievious transgression against f:lusayn, requested to be
among the first to die in his defence.
Two further examples must be cited of the chivalry and conviction
of the followers ofi;Iusayn and their wi.llingness to die with assurance
of great reward in the hereafter. Muslim Ibn <Awsajah, a valiant
fighter, fell after a long struggle. When the two groups of fighters
separated, I;lusayn stood over his head and said, 'May God have mercy
on you 0 Muslim, "some of them have fulfilled their vow by death,
and some are still awaiting, and they have not changed in the
least. ... " ' 81 I;labib Ibn Mu=?ihir, one of the few Kiifans who died
with I;lusayn, approached Muslim and said,
Your death grieves me sorely 0 Muslim. Were it not that I shall

soon follow in your footsteps, I would have asked you to let me
execute your will, and I would have honored your memory as befits
a man like you. Rejoice, however, for yours will be the pleasures of
paradise.
Muslim answered feebly, pointing to I:Iusayn, 'Yes, I charge you with

this man; fight for him until you meet your death before him. ' 82 Both
men were well known for their piety and integrity, so much so that
their death grieved their enemies as well as their friends.
Late in the afternoon, when I:Iusayn was left with but a few of his
friends and family, I:Ian?alah Ibn Sa<d al-Shamj83 came forth, faced the
people and said;
'My people, I fear for you the like ofthedayofthe parties (ahzab), the
like of the case of Noah's people, <Ad, Thamiid, and these after
them.... I fear for you the Day of Invocation, the day you turn
about, retreating, having none to defend you from God; and whom-
soever God leads astray, no guide has he. '84 0 people do not kill
I:Iusayn lest God crush you with His torments....
Then, despairing, he turned to I:Iusayn and said, 'Shall we not go to the
hereafter and join our brethren?' I;Iusayn answered, 'Yes, go to that
which is better for you than this world and all that it contains; go to a
dominion that shall never cease. '85 I:Ian?:alah is important in that he
played an interesting role in the development of extremist Shiel ideas
concerning the personality and fate of the martyred Imam. Perhaps his
words of doom, so powerful in the original Arabic, and full of
Qur>anic allusions, perhaps his otherwise unknown personality or
some other unknown reason led him to be chosen to play the role he
did. He bore, we are told, the likeness ofi:Iusayn and died in his place,
as did another man bear the likeness ofJesus and was crucified in his
place. 86
Widespread popular beliefholds that before a person's death, that
person manifests powers beyond the capacity and comprehension of
mortal men. During these final moments, a person acquires unusual
clairvoyance and his prayers are quickly answered. I:Iusayn mani-
fested such powers, but in his case they must be attributed not merely
to that general phenomenon, but rather to his special favor. (kariimah)
as the Imam and friend (wali) of God. Several examples are reported of
Early accounts and interpretations cif ljusayn's martydom 117
men who reviled I:Iusayn or challenged his claims for leadership; they
were immediately punished through his invocation or curse. 87
After all the companions of I:Jusayn were killed, his son 1Ali al-
Akbar fell; then all his male relatives died in battle one by one. Finally,
he was left totally alone. He went to the women's tent and asked for an
infant boy born during the journey or not long before. 88 I:Iusayn took
him in his arms and sat at the door of the tent. Some sources, in order
to illustrate graphically the cruelty ofl;Iusayn's enemies, report that he
faced them with the boy in his arms and begged for a drink of water for
the dying infant. 89 The infant in any case was shot by an arrow in the
neck. Some sources tell us that I:Iusayn filled his hand with the infant's
blood and threw it towards heaven; not a drop returned to earth. 90
I:Iusayn lifted his hands to heaven and prayed, '0 Lord if Thou hast
withheld victory from us from heaven, let that be for our good, and
take vengeance for us from these wrongdoers. ' 91
It must also be observed that several of the male members of
I:Iusayn's family killed in fighting were youths hardly capable of
carrying arms. Among these were the two sons of I:Jasan, al-Qasim
and 1Abdallah. 1Abdallah, only a boy, stood by his uncle's side after
stealing away from the women's tent. A man struck him with a sword,
first cutting off his hand, then killing him. I:Iusayn took <Abdallah in
his arms, still in the throes of death, lamenting the boy's loss and his
own impotence to save him. 92
One of the few men ofi:Iusayn's family present in Karbala> was his
younger half brother aJ-<Abbas. His death is another moving episode
in the tragedy as depicted by later pietistic tradition. It was he, we are
told, who was always able to force his way to the waters of the
Euphrates to save the lives of the women and children who were
languishing with thirst. He was, therefore, given the title, 'the Water
Bearer (saqqa>) of Karbala>. ' 93
It has been observed often in this study that Shj<l tradition regards
Imam I:Iusayn as the paragon of all virtue. His bravery in particular is
stressed as beyond all human limitations. The question of I:Iusayn's
actual engagement in the fighting is, therefore, important for our
understanding of the growth of his personality in Islamic and espe-
cially Shrl piety. To later developments we shall return subsequently;
first we must examine a few of the relevant traditions in the two works
that we have been using for our narrative ofi:Iusayn's martyrdom, the
history of Tabar! and al-Irshad of Shaykh al-Mufid. 94
The statement which must have served as the basis for later amplifi-
cations was given on the authority of a supposed eyewitness of the
battle, I:Iamld b. Muslim. J:Iamid, although allegedly in the enemy
camp, is made to play an important role in staying the violence of the
mobs against the women and surviving son of l;lusayn. 95 l;lamid
describes I:Iusayn as he saw him towards the close of the battle:
By God I never saw before an afflicted man [in spite of the fact that
his children, members of his family, and friends had been killed]
who showed greater fortitude and sharper wit or was braver in his
advance than he. By God I never saw, before or after, one like him.
For men used to flee before him, on his right and left, as would goats
when attacked by a wol( 96
Beyond this statement, which in itself says nothing about the actual
fighting ofi:Iusayn, little is said in most early sources.)Tabar1 reports
that l;lusayn fought at the end on foot for awhile then returned to his
place, saying, 'Is it against me that you have gathered? By God, you
shall never kill any one of the servants of God for whose death He
would be more wrathful with you .... ' 97 Almost all sources, early
and late ones, quote a statement on the authority of the sixth Imam
JaCfar that there were found on the body ofl;lusayn thirty-three stabs
of the spear and thirty-four strikes with the sword, and his body was
riddled with arrows like a porcupine. 98
It seems that I:Iusayn was killed gradually, so to speak, first by
randomly shot arrows, then by wounds inflicted on him by stones and
strikes of the swords from those passing by, who did not wish to kill
him. Before his death, in anticipation of being robbed of his clothes
and left naked, he took Y emenite trousers, tore them open so that no
one would want them, and wore them under his clothes. We are told
that he was nonetheless robbed of the trousers and actually left naked
on the sand. 99
When at last l;lusayn was left alone, unable to move, he sat on the
ground and uttered a pathetic cry for help:
Is there no one to defend the women of the Apostle of God? Is there
not one professing the oneness of God (muwal,l,id) who would fear
Early accounts and interpretations of I-;lusayn's martydom 119
God for our sake? Is there no one to come to our help, seeking
thereby that which God has in store as a reward for those who
would aid us. 100
Then he filled his hands with his own blood and smeared it all over his
head and beard, saying 'Thus will I be until I meet my Lord, stained
with my blood. I shall then say [complaining to the Prophet], 0
Apostle of God this man and that man killed me. ' 101
As l;:Iusayn sat swaying back and forth, unable to move, his sister
came out weeping aloud. She turned to Ibn sa<d and reproached him
for allowing her brother to be killed while he just looked on. He
turned away, his beard wet with tears, and said nothing. At last Shimr
spurred the horsemen on, saying, 'What are you waiting for? Put the
man out of his misery. ' 102 One man ran and dealt him a blow with his
sword which severed his left shoulder. Another man stabbed him in
the back and he fell on his face.
It is not clear who finally cut offl:lusayn's head. According to early
sources it was a man called Sinan Ibn Anas al-Nakh<i. He gave the
head, we are told, to Yazid b. Khawli al-A~babi who carried it to Ibn
Ziyad. 103
I:Iusayn's goods were pillaged; even the veils and garments of the
women were taken, snatched off their heads and backs. Shimr urged
his men to kill 1Ali, the sick youth, but l:lamid Ibn Muslim and later
Ibn Sa1d intervened and saved the boy. As the women were carried
away to Kiifah, they passed the corpses of the dead, still lying on the
sand. Zaynab cried out in lamentation:
0 my Mubammad, on you the angels of heaven prayed. Behold
I:Iusayn naked under the sky, soiled with his blood and dis-
membered. 0 my Mubammad, your daughters are captives, and
your male descendants lying dead blown about by the wind. 104
In this dirge, later ShN piety found the first impetus for the ta 1ziyah
majiilis tradition. Later tradition tells us that as Zaynab gazed at the
dead bodies, she hit her head on the post of her litter, staining her face
with the blood of sorrow. 105
When the captives arrived with the heads of the martyrs in Kiifah,
Ibn Ziyad gathered the inhabitants of the city to look at the tragic
spectacle. He gazed at I:Iusayn's head, smiling, and began to poke its

teeth with a stick he had in his hand. Zayd Ibn Arqam, one of the
companions of the Prophet, burst into tears and exclaimed reproach-
fully, 'Take away your stick from these lips, for by God, often did I see
the lips of the Apostle of God on them.' Then he left the hall saying,
'You Arabs are slaves after this day. You have killed the son of
Fatimah [I:Iusayn] and made Ibn Murjanah [Ibn Ziyad] a ruler over
you. He shall kill your best men and spare the worst among you. Y au
have accepted humiliation, fie on those who accept humiliation. ' 106
Ibn Ziyad ordered <Ali, son ofi:Jusayn, to be killed as he did not wish
any male ofl:lusayn's family to survive; but his sickness, youth and the
intervention of some of the men present saved him.
Ibn Ziyad sent the captives with the severed heads to Y azid in
Damascus. Y azid was horrified by the sight of the captives; he ordered
that their hands and feet be untied and that they be given clean
garments. He lodged them in a house next to his, where for a few days
his women and those ofl:lusayn held long lamentations for the dead.
Finally he supplied them with provisions and honest men to accom-
pany them, and sent them back to Medina.
We shall have to return to Yazid at some length later. Now, how-
ever, let us retrace our steps to Medina, and briefly follow I:Jusayn a
second time to Karbala> and his family back to Medina. This time,
however, our guides will not be historians, but hagiographers. It must
be observed that historical accounts are not totally free from hagio-
graphical influence. Nor can it be said that hagiographical works have
no historical basis. Such distinctions between genuine history and
hagiography were not known to ancient writers. They wrote not as
disinterested spectators, but rather as members of a community to
whose history and tradition they themselves belonged.
4.3 LATER DEVELOPMENTS AND PIETISTIC INTERPRETATIONS
It can be easily seen from our discussion of some of the aspects of

I:Jusayn's martyrdom and the motives that led to it, that there was
continuous tension, perhaps in his own mind, but more certainly in
the tradition which grew out of his life and death; a tension between
Later developments and pietistic interpretations 121
weakness and strength, free choice and determination, and good and
evil. The tragic flaw in the character of a hero which usually manifests
his human nature is a well-known phenomenon in the history of
religion, myth and literature. In the garden of Gethsemane, Christ
prayed that the bitter cup of death be taken away from him, but finally
he committed his life and will to the divine will. In this submission to
the will of God, he transcended the human plane of existence, and thus
attained victory on ,the cross as a divine hero. He was abandoned by
God and men, as we see in his cry, 'My God, why hast thou forsaken
me. ' 107 Yet he confidently declared before his crucifixion that ifhe had
so willed, God would have sent legions of angels to defend him. 108
Thus the cross became his throne of glory 109 and the wreath of thorns
his crown of victory. These elements of the archetypal life and
struggle of the divine hero, as exemplified in Christ, instructively
parallel the life and struggle of f:Iusayn, as seen and interpreted by
pietistic tradition.
It was observed towards the close of the previous chapter that
f:Iusayn approached his impending martyrdom with courage and deep
sorrow, a fear of death and love for life, and a truly heroic readiness for
death if necessary. Like Jesus, however, he spent his last moments
before the final struggle with death in a Gethsemane of sorrow and
tears. Early historians and writers of martyrdom narratives (maqatil)
tell us that f:Iusayn was seen entering the mosque of Medina leaning on
two men, suggesting that he may have been ill at the time. 110 Phy-
sically weak and crushed by a heavy fear of death, f:Iusayn went to the
tomb of the Proph~t where he spent the last two nights prior to his
journey to Mecca. After offering a few prostrations of prayer, he
begged God to choose for him that which would be pleasing to Him
and His Apostle. He wept bitter tears until he fell asleep with exhaus-
tion at the break of dawn. In a dream he saw the Prophet descend from
heaven with a host of angels. The Prophet took l:Iusayn, pressing him
close to his breast, and said:
0 f:Iusayn my beloved, I see you soon bathed in your blood, slain in

a land of sorrow (karb) and calamity (bala') in a group of men of my
community. You shall be thirsty but your thirst will not be
quenched. 111
The Prophet then declared that these men, who were to kill his
grandson, would beg for his intercession, but it would be denied them
on the Day of Resurrection.
Because of the Qur>an's vivid, concrete descriptions of life in the
next world, Islamic piety generally views life after death as an exten-
sion of this life in all its aspects. Thus I:Iusayn, we are told, in a short
vision-like dream on the morning before the battle, was told by the
Prophet to make haste, for the entire family was expecting to break
bread with him (jft.iir) that evening in paradise. The Prohet further said
0 I:Iusayn my beloved, behold your father, your mother and your
brother have come to visit me, and they are longing for you. Verily
you shall have in the Gardens [ofParadise] high stations which you
cannot attain save through martyrdom.
l:lusayn then answered in his dream, '0 grandfather, I have no need of
this world; take me therefore to you and let me enter with you into
your grave.' But the Prophet insisted, 'No, there is no other choice for
you, but that you must return to this world and be granted martyrdom
for which God has prescribed for you great rewards. ' 112
In a very early tradition, reported on the authority of the fifth/miim,
we are told that 'God sent down victory to I:Iusayn, until it hung
between heaven and earth. Then he [I:Iusayn] was allowed to choose
between a victory or meeting God, and he chose the latter. ' 113 This is a
first step in the development of a tradition that was in the end to make
thechoiceunconditional. Thechoicechanged from one between victory
or immediate bliss in the divine presence to a choice between victory or
immediate happiness in the company of the Prophet in paradise. 114
The last and final step in this development appears in a late tradition.
We saw that when l:lusayn was left alone on the battlefield, he uttered
a pathetic cry for help. The angels heard and protested to God that He
should not leave His friend (wali) so helpless and in such despair. A
tablet came down from heaven, the tradition continues, into l:lusayn's
hand. On it was written:
0 I:Iusayn, we did not make death and martyrdom an obligation for
thee. Thine is the choice, nor would it diminish thy status with us.
If thou wishest that we take away from thee this calamity, it shall be
granted thee.... 115
Thereupon hosts of angels, with swords of fire in their hands, filled the
entire space between heaven and earth, ready to obey l:Iusayn's com-
mand. But he threw the tablet towards heaven, returning it to God
with the words,
I would rather be killed and resuscitated seventy times, nay even

seventy thousand times, in Thy love and obedience to Thee.... Let
there be in my death the victory ofThy religion and preservation of
Thy law (shar,..ah)Y 6
The idea of I::Iusayn's voluntary and unconditional acceptance of

martyrdom for the love of God and the preservation ofHis religion, as
evolved by Sht"i piety, while remaining within the IsLimic framework,
has pushed the idea of redemption to its extreme limit. It is an interpre-
tation ofl:Iusayn's death which has persisted in some form or another
to the present. '
In another very early tradition, it is related that on his way to Iraq,
f:lusayn met a few men coming from Kufah to Mecca. They told him
that the hearts of the Kufans were with him, but their swords with the
Umayyads. He lifted up his hands to heaven; suddenly the gates of
heaven were opened and innumerable troops of angels came down.
I::Iusayn said to the men, 'Were it not for the proximity of things and
the coming down of the decree of the end, I would have fought them
with these [the angels]. ' 117
Another related explanation off;lusayn's martyrdom was given by
the Imam himself to the faithful of thejinn. They came to him to offer
their support against his enemies, saying they would kill them in an
instant without the Imam having to move an in:Ch from his place. But
f;lusayn said:
. . . If I remain in my place with what would these miserable
creatures be tried, and with what would they be afflicted? Who
would occupy my grave, the spot which God has chosen for me
when He spread the earth. Then He made it a refuge for our
followers, Sh"rah, and for those who love us. In it would their
prayers and good deeds be accepted, and their petitions answered. It
shall be a haven of peace for our Sh,..ah, a place of safety in this world
and the next. 118
The tension we witness here is between viewing the martyrdom of

I:Iusayn as that of a human being regardless of his status or that of a
divine hero whose entire life is preordained. Both aspects are impor-
tant for Shf<l piety and it is on a balanced .presentation of these two
aspects, not the rejection of either, that later Shl('i imamology was
based. Hence, official Sh!('i tradition has insisted on martyrdom as
being the common factor in the life of every imam. It is, moreover,
martyrdom as a common motif that has provided the link between
the imams and the community.
Shz<i theology considers every imam a caliph whose temporal power
remained unrealized, and only because ofhuman folly. The caliphate
ofl:Iusayn extended from the day his brother I:Iasan died until his own
death. Since the imam is not chosen by men but appointedby God
himself, his rejection by men in no way annuls his authority: this, for
Sh'i(l theology, would be tantamount to thwarting the divine :will.
We are therefore told that before his departure for Iraq, I:Iusayn was
seen standing at the gates of the Ka(bah, with Gabriel's hand in his, the
angel exclaiming for all to hear, 'Hasten to the bay(ah [giving of
allegiance] of God. ' 119
It must be observed that not only the death of the imam but the
details of his life are divinely controlled. More specifically, however,
every imam had a program, as it were, which he had to complete before
his death. This is clearly expressed in an unusual tradition. The Pro-
phet received divine communications (wahl) as words recited, not
written; this applies both to the Qur>an and to what we may call
'divine utterances' (ahad'ith quds'iyyah). Shl(l tradition, however, asserts
that the Prophet received one and only one document (wa~'iyyah) from
God, intended for the imams. The holy writ had twelve seals, one for
each imam. Each one broke his own seal and lived by its injunctions.
That ofl:Iusayn read, 'Fight, and you shall be killed. Rise up in revolt
with a company of men to martyrdom, for they shall have no
martyrdom except with you. >1 20
The battle ofKarbala> is considered by ShN piety to be as important
in the religious history of Muslims as the battle ofBadr; its martyrs are
as well favored by God as those of Badr. 121 The martyrs of Badr, we
are told, were supported by hosts of angels. 122 Those same angels came
to I:Iusayn on his way from Medina to Mecca and offered to lend him
support, as they had been commanded by God. But he told them to

witness his death and guard his tomb until the coming of the qii >im, the
Mahdi. 123
According to a very popular yet not so widespread tradition, God is

supposed to have chosen one thousand men who would protect His
religion (din) from the beginning of the world until its end. }:Iusayn,
when asked concerning the distribution of these men in time, said that
the companions ofTaliit 124 were three hundred and thirteen, likewise
those that fought in Badr were three hundred and thirteen. At the end
of time, a.similar number of men will support the Mahdi. That leaves
only sixty-one men, these were the companions of }:Iusayn. 125 Thus
the men who fought and died with }:Iusayn were chosen by God for
this honor before the creation of the world. They faced death, imper-
vious to the pain of the sharp steel, for God protected them against
pain as he did the martyrs of Badr. 126
God, we are told, removed the veil from their eyes so they saw their
places in paradise. They fought, therefore, valiantly, longing for the
pleasures awaiting them in paradise. 127 They even tasted these joys
before their death, as we read in one of the most curious traditions
attributed to the sixth Imiim. When the companions ofJ:lusayn were
suffering terrible thirst on the day before the fighting, }:Iusayn
gathered them together and said, 'Let him who is thirsty approach.' So
one by one they came and he put his thumb in the mouth of each man
until they all drank. Some among them exclaimed, 'By God, we drank
a drink, the likes of which no one in this world had ever tasted
before. ' 12R The tradition goes on to relate that }:Iusayn gathered his
companions again in the evening and caused a great table to be spread
before them laden with the foods and beverages of paradise, from
which they all ate and drank. Then he sent them all away, each to his
own home; he himself went to Mount Ra<;lwah near Mecca where he
shall remain until the coming oftheMahdl. 129 The imagination oflater
Shr<l writers stopped at nothing, least of all glaring contradictions
among traditions, in their effort to emphasize the miraculous, even
fantastic aspects of the passion of the martyred Imam.
When }:Iusayn was left alone on the battlefield, he felt the deep
despair of an ab~l,!doped man in the face of death. To his outcry of
despair, his companioJ, already dead, were said to have stirred again,
begging the Imam to be brought back to life so that they might again
die in his defence. But that was not to be; rather the Imam must endure
the full measure ofhis suffering and drink the cup of martyrdom to the
full. Satan came to Karbala> with his armies, challenging God that if
J:Iusayn were to be tried by the intense heat of the desert sun, he would
surely break down under the stress. God increased the heat of the sun
seventy times; only Satan and J:Iusayn could feel it. Of course, I:Iusayn
stood unmoved, and Satan and his hosts ran away distraught and
defeated. 130 This is a late tradition; it presents an obvious parallel with
the temptations of the Buddha and, indirectly, those of Christ. Like
them, I:Iusayn had to achieve his victory through suffering; the greater
the trials, the greater the victory. Satan, we are told, wanted to prevent
I:Iusayn's death from becoming a redemptive martyrdom and a pro-
tection against the fire for all who would weep for his death and keep
his memory. 131
We saw in Chapter 1 of this study how animals, often more than
human beings, could express loyalty and sorrow in their participation
in the sufferings of the Holy Family. The horse, in particular, has been
regarded in Arab culture as the noblest and most intelligent of all
animals, much more than just a vehicle for its warrior rider. The horse
is his companion in the fighting, whose strength and faithfulness
determine in large measure the rider's victory. The idea of the empty
stirrup, as a dramatic expression of sorrow for the fallen fighter, is also
widespread. I:Iusayn, we are told, rode the horse of the Apostle of God
to the battlefield. When he died, that horse began to weep bitterly,
neighing, '0 the wrong committed by an unfaithful community
against the people of the household (ahl al-bayt) of its Prophet. ' 132 The
horse, according to a late tradition, began to smear its head and mane
with the blood of the dead Imam and beat its head on the ground with
sorrow. Ibn Sa<d, amazed by the sight, ordered his men to catch the
animaL But the horse would let no one come near it; in its struggle
against the enemy army, it killed forty men. Finally it galloped
towards the women's tent with tears running down its face. Zaynab
saw it and called I:Iusayn's favorite young daughter Sukaynah,
saying, 'Come au~, here comes your father with the water.' Of course,
the young girl came out, and, seeing the horse without a rider,
raised a lament in a moving dirge-like stanza. The horse died as it
Later developments and pietistic interp~etations 127
continued to beat its head on the ground in grief for its mas-
ter. 133
Popular tradition,claims Shimr to be the murderer ofl::Iusayn; many
sources portray this last act of cruelty vividly. Quite early in the
development of this tradition, Shimr's personality becomes par-
ticularly conspicuous among I::Iusayn's antagonists. He was, tradition
asserts, leprous, with a face like that of a dog. 134 In spite of many
historical references to the contrary, popular tradition could find no
one more evil than Shimr to whom the final act of killing I:Iusayn
could be ascribed. We shall not trace the long development of the
Shimr tradition, so to speak, in popular Sh'N religious literature; it is
enough to cite a recent account which may be taken as quite typical of
most tales since the seventeenth century, at the latest. ,
The picture here presented ofi:Iusayn is anything but that of a brave
and dignified warrior. We see him lying on the sand, painfully contract-
ing and stretching his limbs, calling on God for help and vengeance
on his enemies. Hearing him, Shimr suggests that he should be killed
in case God might ind~ed answer his invocations. Early source_s suggest
that Yazid b. Khawli al-A~bal)i came to slay I:Jusayn, but his hands
trembled, and that Sinan mocked him and himself cut off I::Iusayn's
head. The later tradition tells us that Y azid looked into I:Jusayn's eyes
and was frightened: they were like the eyes of the Prophet and <Ali.
Finally, Shimr came, knelt on I::Iusayn's breast and began to revile him.
I::Iusayn asked to see his face and smiled, telling Shimr that the Prophet
had told him that someone with physical characteristics like his would
cut offhis head. Of course, Shimr became furious and put the sword to
I:Iusayn's throat, but it did not cut: he had touched the blessed spot that
the Prophet used to kiss. I::Iusayn reminded the evil man that the world
was ephemeral and the hereafter eternal; whatever reward he could
expect for killing him would be little compared with the punishment
in the world to come. But Shimr professed unbelief (kufr), turned the
Imam over on his face, and slew him from the back of the neck. 135
Men swarmed around the body of I::Iusayn after he fell. All those
who robbed him of his clothes or other goods met a bad end. His old
trousers, for example, were taken by a man whose hands began to
wither in the summer, like two dried faggots, and to become damp in
the winter, oozing pus and blood until he died. So it was with every-
one who pillaged I:Iusayn's goods. When I:Iusayn's camels were later
slaughtered for food, their meat turned to fire or was too bitter to eat. 136
One interesting example that has been highly dramatized in the

ta<ziyah passion plays in Iran is the legend ofl:lusayn's camel driver. 137
I;Iusayn had, we are told, a very expensive sash (tikkah) which the
camel driver had always coveted. The story assumes, unlike other
accounts, that I;Iusayn was not left naked. The evil camel driver came
on the night I:Iusayn was killed and began to untie the sash. I:Iusayn's
corpse miraculously stretched out its hand and grasped the sash so as
not to allow the man to untie it and leave the body totally exposed.
The camel driver cut off first one hand, then the other, as I:Iusayn tried
again to protect his body from being uncovered. As the man was
about to remove the sash, the sky became bright and hosts of angels
came down with the Prophet, Ei~imah, 1Ali and I:Iasan. The Prophet
uttered an invocation, and the head of his martyred grandson flew
from Kiifah and was once again placed on its body. The Prophet
noticed that I:Iusayn's hands were cut off and I:Iusayn told him what
the wicked camel driver had done. The Prophet cursed the man,
saying, '0 God, cut offhis hands and feet, blind his eyes and blacken
his face and never forgive him. >~ 38 The man was later seen out~ide the
Ka 1bah, weeping and praying for divine forgiveness but knowing that
it would never be granted him.
ShN tradition, as we have seen, presents conflicting reports of
Yazid's treatment of the surviving members ofl:lusayn's family. Like
Ibn Ziyad, Yazid is supposed to have picked the teeth of the severed
head ofl:Jusayn, and was reproached by one of_the companions of the
Prophet with harsh words similar to those addressed to Ibn Ziyad. 139
Yazid's infidelity and wickedness are indicated by a few verses attri-
buted to him by popular piety, recited as he gleefully gazed at the head
before him. In these verses, Y azid wished that his ancestors of Badr
were present to see how he had amply avenged them. He concludes,
Forsooth the sons ofHashim played with power (mulk), for neither
a word came [from God] nor was a revelation sent. I would not
therefore be a true descendant of Khindaf [his ancestral tribe] if I
would not take revenge on the house of Al).mad [Mul).ammad] for
all that he had done. 140
In one of the many orations attributed to Zaynab, J:Iusayn's sister, she

reprimands Yazid harshly for his infidelity in harkening back to the
blood ties of the days of the jiihillyyah and pronounces his imminent
doom. 141
A man ofDamascus then in Yazid's court saw Fatimah the younger,
J:Iusayn's daughter; thinking the captives to be from a non-Muslim
country, he requested her ofYazid as a concubine. The young girl was
frightened ansi clung to her aunt for protection. Zaynab again
reproached Yazid and told the man that Yazid could not do such a
thing unless he renounced Islam altogether. The incident is reported
by many very early authors; 142 here tradition displays all the pos-
sibilities of a vivid imagination. After an exchange of harsh words
between Yazid and the Imam's sister, Yazid berated the man and the
matter was dropped. But later tradition makes the man ask who the
captives actually were; when he learns of their identity, he curses
Yazid and is killed. 143 In a still later tradition the man himself is cursed
by Umm Kulthum, a younger sister of I:Iusayn, for his audacity;
immediately, as she had specified in her invocation, his tongue was
muted (literally, cut off), his eyes blinded and his limbs paralyzed. 144
Another very popular and richly varied genre of anecdotes concerns
traditions of Jews and Christians who happened to be present at the
time off::Iusayn's martyrdom.l\s they learn of what Yazid did to the
family of the Prophet, they curse him, accept Islam and are mar-
tyred. 145 One of these, a Christian of Medina, had q1et the Prophet
when f::Iusayn was yet a child and witnessed the wrestling episode
already discussed. 146 He relates this event to Y azid, making the point
that neither the Prophet, the parents of the Imam nor even God himself
would have broken I:lusayn's heart by declaring him to be weaker
than his brother, so what Y azid had done was a grievous sin indeed.
The man declared that for all these years he and his large family had
kept their Islam secret. He professed Islam publicly and rushed to the
head of I:Iusayr:t, embracing it and weeping as Yazid had him
beheaded. 147
In his short reign of a little over three years, Y azid, according to
general Islamic tradition, 148 first killed I:lusayn, then had his army
pillage Medina, rape its women and kill its men, and finally destroyed
the Kacbah in the war against Ibn al-Zubayr. Later Yazid is said to have
come to a bad end. Graphic descriptions reveal how his life was always
haunted by guilt after the death ofl:lusayn. On one ofhis hunting trips
he was chasing a gazelle specifically sent by God; he fell offhis horse
and was dragged by the animal until only his left leg was left hanging
in the stirrup. When he died devils came and dragged his soul into the
lowest pit of hell. 149
One of Yazid's wives, Hind, who was previQ_usly married to
I:Iusayn, saw light shining from the head of her former husband in a
dream. Then a large number of angels came down from heaven,
saluting the head and weeping. The Prophet came and threw himself
over the severed head, weeping and saying, '0 my son, they have
killed you, knowing not who you were, and prevented you from
drinking water. ' 150 She went looking for Yazid and found him in a
dark house with bowed head and saddened countenance. She related
the dream to him; despondent and frightened, he sent the captives
back to Medina with rich gifts.
It has been repeatedly stressed in this study that nature, as well as
celestial and terrestial creation, have been integrated into the drama of
Mubarram through the familiar phenomenon of supernatural portents
and signs accompanying the birth or death of a hero. It is hardly
necessary to give examples or draw parallels between the case of
l:lusayn and those of other spiritual heroes. When l:lusayn died, we are
told, the heavens darkened and the sun was eclipsed so that the stars
were seen in mid-day. The stars collided; a strong wind arose, blowing
so much dust about that nothing could be seen. People thought that
the end of the world had come, and with it their own torments. 151 Not
only signs and portents accompanied the death off:Iusayn, but also a
mark of nature's sorrow was left forever in the sky as a reminder of
that grave event. It is related, in very early sources, that redness at
sunset was never seen in the sky before l:lusayn threw his blood
towards heaven. 152
On their way from the battlefield, the captives passed through the
streets of Kiifah. Various speeches are attributed to the women and
the surviving son ofl:lusayn. Very early sources attribute a speech to
the lady of the house of <Ali, Zaynab. But like all such speeches, the
powerful rhetoric of this oration can be fully appreciated only in the
Arabic original. 153 In it she declares, ' ... Y au have truly committed a
great wrong. Behold the heavens are nigh splitting asunder, the earth
will nearly split open, and the mountains coJ]apse .... Do you then
marvel that the heavens have rained blood? ... ' 154 To what extent
these remarks can be said to have influenced the Mubarram tradition is
difficult to say with any certainty. For later developments, this and
other such orations must have served as texts for many ideas.
Moreover, this oration and several others, attributed to Zaynab and
others of the family ofl:lusayn on their way from Karbala 1 to Kiifah, to
Damascus and back to Medina, developed as part of the general
tradition. Thus, as Zaynab declared the heavens to have rained blood,
so, according to most sources, it continued to rain blood for forty days
or even six months. Tabari reports, on the authority of a man contem-
porary to J:lusayn who took an active part against him, that every
morning people saw blood on the walls of their houses, and often
found their household vessels filled with it. 155 This blood from heaven
is regarded by some as tears the celestial regions shed for J:lusayn. The
earth likewise wept, and blood was seen und~r every stone and on
every wall. 156
I:Iusayn, as we have seen, was killed by men who were supposed to
have been Muslims; some among them were the sons of close com-
panions of the Prophet. Tradition seeks to contrast the character of
these men with those men and women who are complete strangers to
both the community and the religion oflslam. These unfaithful Mus-
lims are even contrasted with animals and birds, who showed more
sorrow for the tragedy. We are told that when J:lusayn died, birds
ceased their happy music and stopped eating and drinking for days. 157
A raven, who witnessed the fighting, came down and smeared its
plumage with the sacred blood and flew to Medina. There it alighted
on the wall of Fatimah, daughter of I:Iusayn, and began to weep. In
many cultures the raven is an omen of death; in Middle Eastern
cultures in particular, it symbolizes the angel of death. In a dialogue
between the bird and Fatimah, the sorrowful bird mournfully
announced to her the death of her father. Looking at the bird she
said:
The raven tells sad news! I asked, 'Woe to you 0 raven, whose death
do you announce?' It said, 'Thelmiim's.' 'Who?', I said. It answered,
'He who is guided aright. Behold I:Iusayn is in Karbala 1 among
spears and lances.' 'Who, I;Iusayn!' said I. 'Yes,' it answered. 'He lies
on the sands.' Then it spread its wings and flew away unable to utter
another word. 158
It has been observed that the blood ofi;Iusayn is regarded by Sh1<1 piety
as a source of both healing and judgment. Many traditions tell of men
who had taken part in some way, directly or indirectly, in the murder
ofi;Iusayn; they dream that the Prophet rubs their eyes with his blood
and they wake up totally blind. 159 The tales of healing and guidance,
on the other hand, are full of emotion and tender sentiment. They
show that universal healing and goodness can be achieved through
suffering and sorrow.
There is a story which is supposed to have been transmitted on the
authority of the family of the Prophet, ahl al-bayt. 160 It is the story of a
Jew of Medina who had a daughter who was blind and crippled. Every
night her father took her to a garden outside the city, trying to comfort
her. One night he left her in the garden and returned to the city on an
errand. On a tree near her, the girl heard the mournful sound of a bird,
and she responded with her own sad cries and tears. As she continued
to join the sorrowful cry of the bird, she slowly crawled nearer to the
tree. The bird was smeared with I;Iusayn's blood. A drop of that blood
fell first on her eyes and they were opened; another fell on her hands,
then her feet and she was completely healed.
Her father returned, anxious over having left her alone for so long,
and was alarmed at not finding his invalid daughter. Instead, he saw a
young girl merrily playing among the flowers of the garden. With
wonderment and joy, the man saw the bird and prayed in the name of
all the Holy prophets of Israel that God might give it the power of
speech so that he could learn what had happened. The bird spoke and
told him that it had witnessed the death of I;Iusayn and stained itself
with his blood. Then it had flown to a group of white birds like it who
were gathered in a garden, eating and filling the air with their music.
As it announced to them the awful news, their joy turned into mourn-
ing. So the bird had flown to Medina in order to mourn the martryed
Imam in his own city.
In Islamic history, and especially in ShN piety, the head of I;Iusayn
played a role closely analogous to that of the cross in early and
medieval Christian history. The Fatimids made it the crown of their

great empire in Egypt, where the shrine which is supposed to house it
stands to this day as the mosque of I:Iusayn. 161
As the head was paraded through the streets ofKiifah, the crowds
passed by the house of Zayd Ibn Arqam. Zayd heard the head recite,
'Or dost thou think the Men of the Cave and al-Rakeem were among
our signs of a wonder?' 162 Zayd's hair stood on end. He exclaimed,
'Your head, 0 son of the Apostle of God, is a greater wonder still. ' 163
In many closely related tales, we are told of Christian monks or
pious Jews, usually rabbis, who encountered the head and were struck
with wonderment. Such a person would ask for the head to be with
him for the night; the head would speak to him, he would embrace
Islam, and it would accept him as a new member of the community. 164
One example serves well to illustrate this interesting genre.
J:Iusayn's head, according to popular tradition, was sent to Damas-
cus in a large company ofbodyguards to make sure that it would get to
Yaz'id. On the way, the caravan stopped for the night below a her-
mitage where a Christian monk lived, spending his life in solitary
worship. As they sat down for dinner, a hand wrote on the wall with
letters ofblood, 'Would a community that had killed I:Iusayn hope for
the intercession of his grandfather on- the Day of Reckoning?'~ 65 The
monk looked down and saw the writing on the wall and the head
surrounded by an aura of bright light. He offered Ibn Sa<d ten
thousand dinars to keep the head for the night. He took the head and,
with it pressed to his bosom, spent the night weeping. Before the
break of dawn he addressed the head, saying, '0 head, I now possess
nothing else save my own person. Bear witness for me before God and
your grandfather that I bear witness that there is no God but God. ' 166
He embraced Islam and dedicated the rest ofhis life to the service of the
Holy Family.
Near Damascus Ibn sa<d called for the money and found the coins
had turned into pieces of clay instead of gold. On one side was
written, 'Deem not that God is heedless of what the evildoers work',
and on the other, '... and those who do wrong shall surely know by
what overturning they will be overturned'. 167 Ibn Sa<d had the coins
thrown into the river and was himself filled with deep remorse. 168
Those who carried the head were considered to be no less wicked
than those who committed the original evil deed. Tradition reports
that they put the head before them in a coffin and sat drinking wine,
thus committing a. double offence: a breach of sacred law and irrever-
ence toward the Imiim. As the men slept one night, the Prophet came
down with a large troop of angels to lament over the head. The angel
Gabriel struck each of the men with a lance of fire, killing them all
except one who happened to be awake at the time. The man protested
that he did not take part in the actual fighting against I;Iusayn, but the
Prophet answered, 'No matter, but you have increased the number of
men against him.' The man begged for pardon, but the Prophet
smeared his eyes with the blood ofl;Iusayn and said to him, 'Go away,
may God never forgive you.' The man woke up blind. 169
The head of l;Iusayn has been the subject of much pious hagio-
graphical imagination. A final tradition carries this long process to its
ultimate limit. When the head and its guards reached Damascus, Yazid
lodged them in a special dome. One night, the Prophet, with all the
earlier prophets and many angels, came down and wept much for the
wrong done the descendants of the last Prophet, Mubammad. Gabriel
wanted to shake the earth from its foundations to kill all of its inhabi-
tants. But the Prophet restrained him, saying that he would be able to
contend with l;Iusayn's murderers on the Day ofJudgment. Again, in
this version of the story, all the men guarding the head were killed by
the angel except one who remained to tell the tale. Finally, prophets
and angels went up to heaven carrying the head with them. So the head
was never seen again, and the story was kept secret by Yazid. 170
This tale leads us to consider yet another theme in the complex
tradition concerning l;Iusayn's death. We insisted in our discussion in
Chapter 2 concerning the personality and physical characteristics of
the imiims that they cannot be regarded as mere human beings. The
question, therefore, of what I;Iusayn's death actually meant in the light
of the Sh"j{l concept of the imam cannot be given an easy answer. This
question has been answered in different ways at different times. There
have been those who accepted the death ofl;Iusayn with all the sorrow
and emotional involvement possible, simply as a tragedy in the history
oflslam. This tragedy has its lessons for human life, to be sure; it was
the result of human folly, the fruits of which were already reaped in
this world and will be again reaped in the world to come. This view, in
varying degrees, has been the one accepted by the Sunni" majority, and
is becoming more and more dominant among Sh~is as well. 171
On the other hand, some Shi'is have accepted the bodily death of
Imiim I:Iusayn, but consider the imiims to be made of a non-material
substance and assert further that in this non-material or luminous
body, Imiim I:Iusayn ascended to heaven. 172 This non-material body is
known as al-jism al-barzakhi. It is a luminous body of a sort which is
neither material nor merely a spirit. Rather, it is in between the two: a
middle substance, so to speak, as the word barzakh (barrier) itself
signifies.
Finally, some have asserted unequivocally that I:Iusayn did not die,
but was taken up to heaven, and that his likeness was assumed by
someone else. 173 This position is rejected by the Ithnii'ashari (Twelver)
Shi'is. The sixth Imiim was asked what he thought of those who held
such a view. He answered, 'These are liars ... for they have given the
lie to the Prophet and the imiims after him, in saying I:Iusayn was not
killed.... These are not of my community (Sh~ah) and I am innocent
of them. '~ 74 This group has been regarded by Twelver Shi'is as extrem-
ists (ghuliit) and del ega tors (mufawwiqah ); the sixth lmiim concludes his
statement by cursing the ghuliit and mufawwiqah. 115 Moreover, it is
related on the authority of the twelfthlmiim, as transmitted by his first
representative (wakil): 'As for those who claim that I:Iusayn was not
killed this is infidelity (kufr) lying and straying away (qaliilah) from the
right.' 176
The objection made by the sixth Imiim to the view that I:Iusayn was
not killed is based mainly on the fact that since the Prophet and the
imiims after him foretold I:Iusayn's death, then it would make them
liars to deny it, and that is kufr. No particular fact in the death of Imiim
I:Iusayn nor any specific doctrinal consideration prompted the sixth
Imiim to curse the people of this view, but rather the view that
Prophets and imiims enjoy protection ('is,mah) from all error neces-
sitates his strong objection. But when the question was put more
indirectly by one of his followers, Ibn Bakir, as to whether anything
would be found in I:Iusayn's tomb, the lmiim did not answer the
question directly. He said angrily, ' ... I:Iusayn is with his father,
mother and brother in the house of the Apostle of God, and with him
together they are sustained and made to rejoice... .' 177
It is further related that when the Prophet was taken up to heaven,

he saw in the fifth heaven an image of<Ali which God made for the
angels so that they would be able to visit <Ali and see him as did the
people of this world. Thus when Ibn Muljam struck him on the head
with a sword, that appeared in the heavenly image as well. When
I:Iusayn was killed, the angels carried him up to the fifth heaven still
stained with his fresh blood, and stood him up alongside the image of
his father. They will remain in this position till the Day of Resur-
rection. It is interesting to observe that the narrator of this tradition
concludes with the injunction of the sixth Imam, ' ... this [hadi"th] is
one of the treasured secrets of knowledge, do not therefore disclose it
save to those for whom it is intended'. 178
We have attempted in this chapter to study as closely as possible the
early accounts ofi:Iusayn's struggle and death, as well as how some of
the major scenes ofhis death evolved in Islamic and, more specifically,
Sh1<1 piety. The tragic death of f:lusayn, the third Imam of the Shl<t
community, has become for Sh;<i Muslims a cosmic event touching all
of human history, nature, the entire universe. I:Iusayn's martyrdom,
moreover, was integrated very early into the history of revelation,
more specifically into the traditions of the ancient biblical prophets
and the Christ of the Gospel. Tabari relates, according to a very early
tradition, 179 that a]ewishsavant of the line of the Prophet David (Rals
al-Jaliit) used to run every time he and his companions passed through
Karbalal. He knew that the son of a prophet was to be killed in that
spot, and he was afraid ofbeing that victim. Thus when f:lusayn was
killed, Rals al-Jaliit concluded with relief that the person intended in
the ancient books, presumably the sacred scriptures of the Jews, was
.E;:Iusayn, not himself After f:lusayn was killed, moreover, people
heard a voice in Medina, assumed to be the ancient prophet al-KhicJr or
one of the angels, reciting the following verses:
0 you who killed f:lusayn ignorantly, anticipate great torment and
mutilation [that is, in the world to come]. All the denizens ofheaven
curse you; angels, apostles, and martyrs. You have been cursed by
the tongue of Moses, David and the man of the Gospel. 180
It must be emphasized again that the line of demarcation between
what modern scholarship considers as historical accounts and what is
regarded as hagiography or pious legend cannot be drawn so clearly

when considering ancient and medieval sources. Historians have
reported much concerning l;lusayn's death which cannot be accepted
as purely historical information. What criterion, then, must the his-
torian, and especially the historian of religion, use in examining the
various traditions purporting to relate an event of great significance
for the religious life of so many people over so many centuries, such as
the martyrdom of Imam I:Iusayn? It will not do, in our view, to limit
ourselves to the bare facts as we see them, because even they have to be
arbitrarily chosen. Nor can we, to be sure, take all traditions to be
factual data. We must, however, choose our facts, often including
those facts which, while to us they do not seem historically valid, were
nonetheless considered as such by the community we are studying.
Let us give two examples to illustrate our points.
For their assessment of what actually happened in Karbalal on the
tenth of Muharram in the year 60 A. H., some modern scholars have
relied almost exclusively on a single statement by a man who himself
was supposed to have taken part in what happened. 181 The statement
in question appears in most early Sht<l as well as Sunnl sources. Zahr
Ibn Qays; who carried the head of l;lusayn to Y azld, greeted the
Umayyad ruler with these succinct words:
I:Iusayn Ibn 1Al1 came to us with eighteen men of his family and a
small following ofhis supporters: we asked them to choose between
submission to Ibn Ziyad or fighting and they chose fighting. We
came upon them at sunrise and surrounded them from every side.
Soon swords were wielded on both sides, but they began to run
away from us, hiding among the hills and valleys as would doves
fleeing before the falcon. By God, 0 Prince of the Faithful, it was
not longer than mid-day nap or the time it would take to milk an
ewe until we finished the last of them. Behold their corpses exposed,
and their garments blood-stained and their cheeks soiled. 182
On the basis of this statement these scholars have discounted all other
traditions concerning the duration of the battle, and, with it, any
significance attached to the event by the society in which l;Iusayn lived
and enjoyed a special place ofhonor. Furthermore, since the statement
is reported by the great historian al-Tabarl, it was considered by them
138 The wronged martyr --..._
as a normative one. Tabari himself, however, sought not only to

report events, but to preserve traditions as well. It must also be
observed that the statement under consideration tells us very little
beyond its rich Arabic rhetoric. Tabari's method of including as
evidence many different accounts could be very instructive to modern
objective scholars. In effect, it assumes that the true story of an event,
which is its history, cannot be reduced to a few facts. To this must be
added the further caution that we cannot so confidently arrive at final
conclusions from these few facts.
Early historians, such as Tabari, base their account to a large extent
on the oral transmission of information. It must be asked, therefore,
whose authority must be taken for the true account, especially by
scholars so far removed in time and place from. the transmitters. This
question, as we know, has occupied Muslim ~adith traditionists and
historians for many centuries. For Shr<is, of course, the imams are the
main transmitters of all sacred traditions. The death of I:Iusayn be-
longs, for ShPIs, not just to history, but to sacred tradition as well.
We have observed that there was wide disagreement on the number
of men who took part in the fighting on both sides. This disparity has
in part arisen, we believe, from a very early tradition reporting that
I:Iusayn one day went to see his brother I:Iasan shortly before the
latter's last illness. I:Iusayn wept, for his brother's situation and
impending death, as the two brothers knew what was to happen to
them in the future. l::lasan is supposed to have answered that he would
be given poison to drink which would kill him. 1113 'Yet', he continued,
'there is no day like yours, 0 Abii (Abdallah [that is, I:Iusayn], as thirty
thousand men will come against you, yet all claiming to be of the
community of our grandfather Mul}ammad, and professing the faith
of Islam. They shall agree on shedding your blood, violating your
sanctity, carrying off your women and children as captives, and pil-
laging your goods.... ' 184
This statement, which goes on to tell how all things were to mourn
I:Iusayn's death, contains, from theSh'i('ipoint of view, a summary not
only of events but of their consequences also; so many Sh;tl writers
have considered this tradition to be as reliable as the report of an
eyewitness. Even though we may not accept this as our own
methodology, we must recognize its importance for the piety of a
community which has interiorized the event and made it the basis of
the hopes and aspirations of its members.
To this end Sh'N piety has often confused history with legend,:using
the former at best as a peg, so to speak, on which to hang many
religious feelings and ideas. In a tradition reported by Kulayn'i from
the fifth Imam, he is supposed to have cautioned his followers that if
they heard a ~adith concerning the family of Mubammad and found it
too difficult to believe, they should not reject it. They should rather
submit the judgment ofits veracity to the Prophet and theimams. 185 As
can be easily seen throughout this study, the followers of the Imam
have not disappointed him in their credulity and acceptance ofhadiths
extremely difficult for anyone to believe. How many of these tradi-
tions actually come from the imams, and how much was put into their
mouths by faithful followers, is difficult for us to tell with certainty.
We are left to end this chapter, in the face of so many uncertainties,
with the familiar words with which many Muslim writers concluded:
'Thus we have heard, and God knows best.'
5
The Sigh of the Sorrowful

Nafas al-Mahmum 1
The martyrdom of Imam J:Iusayn has been regarded by the Sh'N

community as a cosmic event around which the entire history of the
world, prior as well as subsequent to it, revolves. Furthermore, this
event has been regarded as divinely preordained: through it God's
'justice and mercy are manifested, and hence man's redemption and
condemnation are achieved. It was stated at the outset of this dis-
cussion that, in some way, all suffering may be regarded as a means of
human redemption. This redemptive suffering as manifested in the
tragedy ofMuoarram, has been viewed in two ways. _First, the death of
J:Iusayn has been regarded as a sacrifice in the struggle (jihad) in the
way of God for the right against the wrong, for justice and truth
against wrongdoing and falsehood .. J:Iusayn has ' .... redeemed the
religion (din) of his grandfather with his soul, family and chil-
dren. . . . ' 2 Through his death, moreover, the foundations of the
U mayyad kingdom crumbled. J:Iusayn died, as we saw in the previous
chapter, in order that Islam might be preserved as a.n ideal to inspire all
subsequent generations of Muslims to strive for its realization.
The second way in which I:Iusayn's death may be regarded as a
redemptive act is through the participati!Qn of the faithful in the
sorrows of the Imam and his belo~ed family. It will be seen, moreover,
that not only mankind, . but all creation as well, is called upon to
participate in this tragic event.lWe have often emphasized this point; it
wi~l be the, aim of this chapter to study in detail the various means of
this participation.
We sha:ll first examine traditions asserting the great merit of weep-
ing for I:Iusayn's calamity and the participation of all things in mourn-
ing his death. Secondly, we shall discuss the means of com-
memorating this tragedy through an examination of the ta<ziyah
majalis celebration, discussing briefly the development of the ta<ziyah
majalis (memorial services) and describing a typical ta<ziyah majlis. In
the third part of this chapter we shall consider the place of poetry in the
142 The sigh of the sorrowful
Mul;larram ritual. We shall first discuss the special merit of composing

and reciting poetry in memory of l::lusayn, then we shall analyze at
some length a few of the major themes, techniques and structures of
this special genre of literature. Finally, we shall deal at some length
with the ziyarah (pilgrimage) ritual, its performance, and some of the
main themes in the ziyarah literature. In the appendix to this chapter
(Appendix D), we shall give a partial translation of a ta 1ziyah majlis,
some, examples of Persian elegies, and selections from the text of an
important ziyarah prayer.
5.1 THE MERIT oF WEEPING FOR I:IusAYN
In Islamic tradition jihad or the struggle in the way of God, whether as

armed struggle, or any form of opposition of the wrong, is generally
regarded as one of the essential requirements of a person's faith as a
Muslim. ShN tradition carried this requirement a step further, making
jihad one of the pillars or foundations (arkan) of religion. 3 If, therefore,
l::lusayn's struggle -against the Umayyad regime must be regarded as
an act ofjihad, then, In the mind of devotees, the participation of the
community in his suffering ~nd its ascent to the truth of his message
must also be regarded_ as .an extension of the holy struggle of the Imam
himself The hadith from which we took the title of this chapter states
this point ve'ry clearly. Ja1far\- fl-Sadiq.,is said to have declared to
al:...Mufac;lc;lal, one ofhis closest disciples, 'The sigh of the sorrowful for
the wrong done us is an act of praise (tasbih) [of God], his sorrow for us
is an act of worship, and his keeping of our secret is :!.'struggle (jihad) in
the way of God'; the !!!Jiim then added, 'This hadith should be inscribed
in letters of gol<L ' 4
As one of the essentials of faith, jihad must be regarded as an act of
worship, bringing high rewards in the hereafter with God. Thus Shf-1
sources speak of the reward (thawiib) for weeping for the sufferings
and affiictions of the Holy Family and especially for the death of the
martyred Imam I:Iusayn. 5
The Imiim himself declared, we are told, 'I am the martyr of tears
(qatil al-%rah), no man offaith remembers me but that he weeps. ' 6 But
for t~ose who do indeed remember l::lusay~'s calamity and weep for it,
The merit of weeping for I;lusayn 143
again the Imam is said to have promised, 'There is no servant (<abd)

whose eyes shed one drop of tears for us, but that God will grant him
for it the reward of the countless ages in paradise. ' 7 Weeping is to be a
reminder to the faithful of the sufferings of the imiims; it is the~m
brance more than the weeping that is importan_t}Thus we read that the
sixth Imam said, 'Anyone who remembers us or if we are mentioned in
his presence, and a tear as small as the wing of a gnat falls from his eye,
God would forgive all his sins even if they were as the foam of the
sea.' 8 We shall often have to return to this theme in this chapter. The
point we wish to stress, however, is that after the death of lmiim
I:Iusayn, both the imams and their followers lived in fear and had to
propagate their teachings in secret. It was no longer easy to express
their opposition to Umayyad and later <Abbasid rule through armed
struggle. ~The only vehicle was the secret, yet active, participation in
the sufferings of ahl al-bayt through weeping and other means of
remembrance.)
The first to provide a powerful example of this incessant sorrow
was the fourthimiim, <Ali Zayn aJ-<Abidin. The emphasis on sorrowful
remembrance of the great tragedy of Karbala) owes its beginning to
him, for he himselflived this tragedy to its bitter end. It was lie who
first carried this expression of sorrow from:-a mere shedding of tears
into an actual participation of the faithful, not only in the sorrows of
the lmiim, but also in their ~p~rsc:;~utions: In_~ cl~-s~c statement attri-
buted to him, he first declares that whoever weeps for the death ofhis
father, I:Iusayn, son.of<Ali, God would grant him large mansions in
paradise to live therein eternally. He goes on to say:
r. ... and any man offaith (mulmin) whose eyes shed tears until they
run down copiously on his face for a harm we have su(fered at the
/ hand~ of our enemies, God will e'nsure f~im a place of righteous
mansions t~ dwell therein for countless ages in paradise.\ And, any
man of faith who may suffer harm for our sake and his eyes shed
tears for such harm ... God would surely take away all pain from
his face on the Day ofResurrection and would protect him from His
wrath and the fire. 9
<Ali, son of l:Iusayn, was considered the greatest of weepers, for he
mourned his ~ather for forty years. Whenever food was brought before
him, he would remember his father's sufferings and weep until his food
became wet with his tears. He would repeat at the same time, 'The
son of the Apostle of God [I:Iusayn] was killed hungry, the son of the
Apostle of God was killed thirsty. ' 10 One day he went out to the
wilderness accompanied by his servant; he prostrated himself on the
ground and began to sob loudly until his face was bathed with his
tears. The servant then protested that ifhis master would not cease his
weeping he would surely perish. But the sorrowful Imam replied that
Jacob was a prophet and had twelve children; when God temporarily
absented one of them, his hair turned white and his eyes became blind.
Yet he, the Imam, saw with his own eyes his father and seventeen ofhis
cousins killed; so how could he not weep for them. 11
Zayn al-<Abidin provided the powerful example for all weepers
here on earth, but after his death his example became but a memory of
the past. The actual continuity of sorrow between the Holy Family
and their devotees is most powerfully presented jn the mother of the
martyred Imam, Fatimah the Radiant. We observed that she remains as
the mistress of the House of Sorrows, not only in this world but in the
world to come as well. We shall return again at much greater length to
her role after her death in the following chapter. Her tears will kindle
God's wrath against her son's murderers, evoking His mercy and
forgiveness for the Imam's community of mourners. Still, however, we'
are told that she began her long lamentations in paradise immediately
after his death, and thus will she continue till the day of his final
vindication. All things weep in emulation of her tears, and the tears of
the faithful here on earth are but a way of sharing in her sorrows and a
means of bringing consolation to her broken heart.
Fatimah's incessant weeping and its effect on all creation is dramat-
ically described by the sixth Imam. Al-Sadiq declared to Abii Ba:?ir,
one of his prominent followers, that whenever he looked at the chil-
dren ofFatimah, his eyes would well up with tears for their hard lot in
this world. He then wept as he embraced his own son Isma<i:J, who
evoked that memory. The sixth Imam continued:
... for truly Fa~imah continues to weep for him [I:Iusayn], sobbing
so loudly that hell would utter such a loud cry, which, had its
keepers [the angels] not been ready for it, ... its smoke and fire
The merit of weeping for 1-fusayn 145
would have escaped and burned all that is on the face of the earth.
Thus they contain hell as long as Eitimah continues to weep ... for
hell would not calm down until her loud weeping had quieted. 12
The seas would come n,igh, bursting into one another, had the angels
charged to watch over them not rushed to contain their waves and
cool down the burning fire of their sorrow with their wings. The
angels, likewise, weep for Fatimah' sweeping, praising God and invok-
ing his mercy. The Imam addressed his disciple, saying, '0 Abii Ba~ir,
would you not also wish to console Fatimah?' The two wept together
for a long time until the man left the Imam, his heart heavy with grie 13
It was stressed in this study that the House of Sorrows includes not
only all of humanity, but all of creation, both the universe and the
heavenly realms, this world and the world to come. Further, all things
are integrated into the drama of martyrdom and endowed with feel-
ings and personality not very different from human feelings and
emotions. Here we see myth attaining its highest expression, where
men and inanimate things play an active role in a universal drama
which transcends all limitations of time, space and human imagi-
nation. The sixth Imam asserted that when }:Iusayn was killed, all
things, visible and invisible, paradise and hell, and the seven heavens
and seven earths with all their inhabitants, wept for him. Specifying
even more exactly the manner and duration of this great mourning, he
said to another one of his close followers, Zirarah b. A lyun:
0 Zirarah, the heavens wept for forty days with blood. 14 The earth
wept for forty days as it was covered in black [literally, in mourn-
ing]; the sun similarly wept for forty days with eclipses and redness.
The mountains were torn asunder and scattered, and the seas
burst. 15
The bniim then described the terrible sorrow and violence of hell and
the continuous weeping of the angels, concluding, ' ... had it not been
for the hujaj [proofs or witnesses] of God on earth, the earth would
have split open and melted away with all its inhabitants. " 6
As liturgical materials, these traditions all exhibit powerful direct-
ness of language and insistent repetition of ideas aimed at evoking
deep sorrow in the participants, a psychological and emotional state of
total immersion in the spirit of the ta 1z'iyah celebration. Most of them

paint a vivid picture of the tragedy and its effects, first on members of
the Holy Family themselves, then on humanity in general, and finally
on nature and the entire universe. Any tradition could provide the
themes needed to remind the faithful of their own part in the sacred
drama and thus provide the basis for a ta 1zlyah majlis, or memorial
service. It may perhaps be of some interest to describe briefly the
various themes of one such celebrated tradition.
The tradition we will now consider is a dialogue between the eighth
Imam, 1Aii al-Ri<;la, and one ofhis disciples, al-Rayyan Ibn Shabib. The
man came to visit the Imiim on the first day ofMubarram and the Imiim
asked him ifhe were fasting. Ibn Shabib said that he was not, and asked
why he should fast on that day in particular. The Imiim observed that it
was the day on which Zechariah begged God, saying 'Lord, give me of
Thy goodness a goodly offspring. Yea, Thou hearest prayer. ' 17 The
Imiim went on to say that men (that is, the Arabs before Islam)
had prohibited fighting during this month, yet Muslims had killed
the descendant of their Prophet during it and had taken their
women captive. Thus they violated the sanctity of thi's sacred
month.
Having set the tone of sorrow, the Imam then addressed. his com-
panion: ' ... 0 Ibn Shabib, if you would weep for anything, weep for
I;Iusayn, son of <Ali Ibn Abi Talib; for he was slain like a lamb, and
with him were slain eighteen men ofhis family the like of whom could
not be found on the face of the earth. ' 18 The Imam related the tragic
event and the sorrow it should evoke in every heart to the cosmic
expression of gdef, declaring that the seven heavens and earths wept
for I::Iusayn. He stressed the necessity for human grief; mankind
should join that universal chorus of mourners.
The tradition under consideration provides a complete picture not
only of Sh~l Mubarram piety, but Sh~l hopes and bitter disappoint-
ments as well. The I miim continued, asserting that four thousand angels
came down from heaven to lend support to l::lusayn against his enemy,
but they found him dead. They were charged by God to guard his grave
and weep for him until the day of the appearance of the Mahdl, the
avenger ofl::lusayn's blood. ' ... They shall be among his supporters
with their war cry, "0 the revenge for the blood ofl::lusayn." >~ 9 Then
The merit of weeping for 1-fusayn 147
the Imam returned to the original theme of weeping and informed Ibn
Shabib that he had been told by his father on the authority of his
fathers that when I:Iusayn died the heaven rained down blood and red
clay. The Imam assured his disciple that if he would weep for I:Iusayn
and make a pilgrimage to his tomb, God would forgive all his sins no
matter how grave and numerous they might be. Finally, stressing the
intimate relationship of the imams with their followers in the House of
Sorrows, the Imam told Ibn Shabib, ' ... If it would please you to have
the reward (thawab) of those who were martyred with I:Iusayn, say
whenever you remember "Oh how I wish I were with them [that is,
the martyrs ofKarbala>] that I may have achieved great victory."' To
emphasize further this point, thelmam counselled his disciple, ' ... If
you wish to be with us in our high stations in paradise, rejoice for our
joy and grieve for our sorrow, and hold fast to our authority (waliiyah);
for even if a man would take a stone as his master (wall) God would
bring him together with it for reckoning on the Day of Resur-
rection. ' 20
, It must be clear from our discussion so far in this chapter that
sorrow and weeping for the martyrdom of Imiim I:Iusayn and the
suffering of the Holy Family became a source of salvation for those
who chose to participate in this unending flow of tears. For human
beings, this is a choice which they could make or refuse, thereby
choosing salvation or judgment~ The rest of creation, however, is by
divine decree the stage, as it were, upon which this drama of mar-
tyrdom is forever enacted. By being part of the sacred drama, nature
itself becomes sacred. This sacralization of nature may be seen sym-
bolically in the sanctity of the days of Mubarram, the sacralization of
time, and of Karbala>, the sacralization of space.
It was observed in the previous chapter that Imam I:Iusayn and his
family ~ncamped in Karbala> on the second ofMubarram; this may be
regarded as the beginning of the end of the tragic ordeal. As I:Iusayn
was destined to suffer martyrdom in Mubarram, even before time
began (at least calendrical time) so the days of this month, especially
the first ten, have always belonged to sacred time. We shall therefore
begin the second section of this study by examining a few traditions
that deal specifically with the sanctity of <A.shura>.
148 The sigh if the sorrowful
5.2 THE Ta<ziyah CELEBRATION:

ITS GROWTH AND GJ;iNERAL CHARACTERISTICS
The death ofl:lusayn serves as a strong basis for identity and cohesion
in the ShN community,' as well as a basis for the integration of all
creation into the community's spiritual history.(Great emphasis is laid
on keeping the memory of this tragic event alive by all possible means,
in spite of opposition, hardship and persecution.~ From the beginning,
the impetus was provided by the imams themselves, who promised
great rewards for the tears of the devotees. The promise of eternal bliss
and security nourished and even encouraged the hopes and aspirations
of the community for a better life even in this world. Hence, the
concept ofjihad (holy struggle) gained a deeper and more personal
meaning. Whether through weeping, the composition and recitation
of poetry, showing compassion and doing good to the poor or car-
rying arms, the Sh~l Muslim saw himself helping the Imam in his
struggle against the wrong (:?ulm) and gaining for himself the same
merit (thawab) of those who actually fought and died for him. The
ta<zlyah, in its broader sense the sharing of the entire life of the
suffering family of MulJ.ammad, has become for the Shti community
the true meaning of compassion. Empathy with the imams is expressed
through weeping and recitation of elegies and the performance of the
entire ta<zlyah rituaq
'Through ritual, religious men and women can relive an event in
their spiritual history and renew their relationship with it. Through
the enactment of an important event of the past, the 'now' of a
religious community may be extended back into the past and forward
into the future. Thus, history is no longer the mere flow ofhappenings
in time without purpose or direction. Rather, through the present
moment, that is, the ritualistic moment, time and space become
unified and events move toward a definite goal. In the ritualistic
moment, serial time becomes the bridge connecting primordial time
and its special history with the timeless eternity of the future. This
eternal fulfillment of time becomes the goal of human time and
history.\
It may be argued with only partial justification that Islam provides
few such moments for the community of the pious, apart from the five
The ta<zlyah celebration: its growth and general characteristics 149
daily prayers, the fast ofRamacJan,and the pilgrimage ritual of the haJJ;
the Sh't-1 group of this community has more than made up for what-
ever deficiency might exist. 21
The renewal of the relationship of the pious Sh't-1 Musl_ims with their
imiims, who lived in the long ago of the community's history, can be
achieved at any moment in time through the ta(zlyah ritual, but
especially on the day of (Ashura>. Every Mul)arram becomes the
month of the tragedy of Karbala> and every (Ashura> the day of the
martyrdom of Imiim I:Iusayn.
The special significance of the day of <Ashura> arises from the
sufferings and martyrdom of the third Imiim, his family and friends.
Very early Islamic tradition has claimed for that day high status: it was
said that on it many supernatural events took place. Such claims were
soon countered by the gravity and character that the day of <Ashura>
acquired. It I is to be observed not as a festive occasion of joy and
blessing, but as the day of sorrow and mourning. Indeed, the tenth of
Mul)arram should not resemble any other day of festivity; there is
no observance of special acts of worship, such as on the days of
RamacJan. It is a day on which only sad remembrance should be
observed.\
One day, one of the companions of the sixth Imiim came to see him
and found him exceedingly sad, tears running down his cheeks. The
Imiim reminded his friend that his sorrow was for the day of <Ashura>,
the day of affiictions. The man asked if one should fast on that day, and
the Imiim specifically enjoined his disciple to experience hunger and
hardship by not eating or drinking, but not to observe that day as a
regular fast. Rather, he counselled his follower to break his fast an hour
after the mid-afternoon prayers with a piece ofhard bread and a drink
of water. 'For it is at that time of day that the tragic ordeal for I:Iusayn
and his companions was over as they lay dead on the ground, thirty
men of the family of the Prophet and their companions. ' 22
Here again we see a definite tension within the tradition. We are
sometimes told that the day of <Ashura> was a day on which God
performed special acts of creation, or manifested His mercy and
forgiveness to die prophets of old. We shall examine a few examples of
this kind of tradition presently. In the tradition just cited, the Imiim
declared that,' ... God in His wisdom created light on Friday, the first
of Rama<;lan, and darkness on Wednesday, the day of <Ashura>.'23

<Ashura>- is a day of darkness and disorder. in the universe, On it,
darkness, the symbol of evil and chaos, was created; on it, after the
death ofJ::lusayn, the laws of nature were suspended as the sun dark-
ened in mid-day, the stars collided with one another, and the heavens
w~tt~~~ . .
According to a very early tradition already referred to, 24 the Prophet
was told that when J::lusayn died, ' ... The earth shall be shaken from
its foundations, the mountains shall quiver and be disturbed, the seas
will rise up in furious waves, ana the heavens shall quake with their
denizens, all in anger and sorrow for thee 0 Mubammad, and for what
thy progeny shall suffer after thee.... ' 25 These were not simply
portents showing the gravity of the event, as we saw in Chapter 3
above, but a genuine manifestation of the grief and angry vengeance of
entire creation. The tradition goes on to assert that all things would
then seek permission from God to lend support to the wronged Imam
and his companions; but God would insist that vengeance is His, and
will mete out such terrible torments for these evildoers as not to be
compared with the torments of any other people.
The imams strongly insist that the day of <Ashura> should not be
taken as a day of joy and festivity; according to some non-Sh;<l
traditions, it seems that the day was regarded as such. 26 There is a
hadi'th reported from <Ali:, the first Imam, on the authority ofMaytham
al-Tammar, who told it to a woman,Jabalah al-Makkiyyah. She asked
how it should be that people would regard the day of<A.shura> as a day
of joy and blessing. Maytham wept and answered:
... They shall fabricate a hadi'th [prophetic saying] claiming that it
was on that day that <;;od forgave Adam, but in fact, He forgave him
during the month ofDhu-1 I::lijjah [i.e., the month of pilgrimage and
feast of sacrifice]. They shall assert wrongly that it was the day on
which God accepted David's repentance, but that also was in Dhii-1
l:Iijj ah. 27
Then Maytham continued to refute the claims that on the tenth of
Mubarram, Noah's ark rested on dry land, and God split the Red Sea
for the children of Israel, assigning different dates to these events. 28
The day of <Ashura> according to the eighth Imam, must be ob-
The ta<zfyah celebration: its growth and general characteristics 151
served as a day of inactivity, sorrow and total disregard for worldly

cares. It may be that the unique character of this day has evolved as a
reaction to traditions which sought' to assert its sacred and joyous
aspects. It may also be that the ancient Jewish <Ashura> observance,
characterized by grief, fasting.and total inactivity, played a role in the
growth of Sht<l <Ashura> pie~. Furthermore, <Ashitra> is the only day
in the Islamic calendar, to our knowledge, clearly stipulated as a day of
total rest. Of course, t~is i~unction has never been taken literally.
Rather, the entire period of<Ashiira>, the first ten days ofMubarram, is
full of activity but of a special kind.
It must also be remembered that the month of Mubarram, even in
pre-Islamic times, was regarded as a sacred month. Let us conclude
our remarks by quoting at some length the stipulations of the eighth
Imam concerning the observance of the day of <Ashura>:
He who abandons any cares for his needs on the day of<Ashura>,
God would fulfill all his needs in this world and the next. He who
takes the day ofi(Ashura> as the day of his afflictions and grief and
weeping, God would make the Day ofResurrection a day ofhisjoy
and exaltation, and we shall be a comfort and security for him in
paradise. But he who calls that day a day ofblessing, and on it stores
any provisions in his house, these provisions would not be blessed.
He would be moreover consigned along with Y azid, <ubaydallah
Ibn Ziyad and <umar Ibn Sa<d to the deepest pit of the fire. 29
The manifestation of sorrow and grief by actually weeping for the
Holy Family of Mubammad needs an impetl!s. We have seen that one
strong aid for creating the proper atmosphere of sorrow has been to
relate one or more of the many traditions attributed to the imams,
enjoining their followers to lament l:lusayn's martyrdom and the
sufferings of other members of his family. By emphasizing one or
several aspects of the tragedy ofKarbala>, the devotees are reminded of
the object of their sorrow. Soon special memorial services (theta!z'iyah
majalis) developed, giving this religio-political phenomenon a rich
ritualistic character.
Tradition insists that the ta<ziyah majalis, or commemorative ser-
vices for the death ofi:Iusayn, started immediately after his death. On
their way to Kiifah, the women and children of the martyred Imam
stopped by the headless bodies; left unburied, and raised the lament for
him and his companions. It is reported that before leaving Karbala>,
Ibn Sa<d prayed over the dead of his camp and buried therp.; but
he left }:Iusayn and his companions unburied until three days later,
when people of the tribe of A sad, living in the neighborhood, buried
I:Iusayn where he was and dug a separate mass grave for the rest
of his companions near him. 30 The last act of cruelty of the Umay-
yad general, who denied the grandson of the Prophet the last rites
of a proper burial, is mentioned in many poems and popular tradi-
tions.
In Kiifah, moreover, the men and women of the city met the
captives of the Holy Family beating their heads and breasts and
weeping in deep remorse for their own treachery. According to the
historian al-Ya<qubi, it was then that the movement of the repenters
(al-tawwiibiin) began. 31 This movement was to play an important role
in the subsequent historyofthe Muslim community and, more impor-
tantly for our purpose, in the development of the ta<ziyah tradition
through the unswerving devotion of its members to the memory of
the son of the Apostle of God and their equally unswerving deter-
mination to avenge his blood. '
In Damascus, at the house ofYazid, his own women joined those of
l:lusayn in a lamentation which lasted seven days. The Via Dolorosa,
along which the Imiim and his family had walked from Medina to
Karbala>, was again traversed back to the holy city by way ofDamas-
cus by the Holy Family, this time bereft of its leader. We are told that,
on their way back to Medina, the women and children of l:lusayn
requested their kind escort to pass by Karbala>; there, forty days after
the tragic event, they held the first lamentation at his grave. 32 In
Medina, the people-of the city met the captives with lamentations and
grie From that time onward Medina became a house of mourning for
thl:! clan ofHashim and their supporters until al-Mukhtar sent the head
of Ibn Ziyad to <Ali, I:Iusayn's son.
During the Umayyad period, the memory of the death ofl:lusayn
was kept in the homes of the imiims and other members of the Hashi-
plite clan. Poets frequented the homes of the imiims and led the lamen-
tation (niyiihah) sessions with their verses. The imiims provided the
liturgical basis for this new manifestation of popular piety in the
The ta<ziyah celebration: its growth and general characteristics 153
traditions already discussed in this study and many others like them.
This period was a formative one for Sh'N piety and the growth of its
distinctive religious identity. Men like the. fourth Imam, Zayn al-
<Abidin, and his descendants after him expressed their protest against
the ruling authorities through their tears and the tears of ,their fol-
lowers in private gatherings, where the sufferings and wrongs
inflicted on the Holy Family .were remembered and grieved.~t was in
this early period that the ta<ziyah tradition was established; it was only
a matter of time before it became a public form of religious piety. 33~
In the early stages of <Abbasid rule, the ta<ziyah celebrations were
fostered and encouraged by the new rulers themselves. For political
reasons, and probably out of genuine religious feelings, at least for
some of the early architects of the <Abbasid empire, the caliphs of the
house of <Abbas championed the cause of the Hashimites. Through
this cause they sought to legitimize their own claims to authority.
Thusta<ziyah sessions were at first held openly, but when this political
weapon began to threaten <Abbasid claims to authority, rulers such as
al-Mutawakkil (847-861 A.D.) did all they could to c:rush this pietistic
movement. Al-Mutawakkil destroyed the tomb of I;Iusayn and for-
bade pilgrimages to the shrine. Yet all his effort,s served to strengthen
the ta<ziyah tradition rather than to crush it. 34
As Sh'Nsm spread and Sht<i rulers, or rulers with strong Sh;<i sym-
pathies, arose, the ta<ziyah celebrations gained popularity. In Iraq, the
Buwayhids gave the ta<ziyah celebrations their encouragement and
patronage. Thus we read that in 352/963 on the day of <Ashura>, the
Buwayhid ruler Mu<izz al-Dawlah closed the markets of Baghdad and
draped them in black sackcloth. Shi'i men and women paraded the
streets in solemn processions, mourning the martyred Imam I;Iusayn. 35
Similar practices and customs appeared in Syria in the I;Iamdanid
court, in Egypt during Fatimid rule, and later in Iran with the r-ise of
the Safavid dynasty.
In the first and second centuries of the hijrah, lamentation sessions
(majalis al-niytihah) were held in the houses of the people of the Holy
Family, and much later in the shrines of the imams. With the third
century, we witness the app~arance of the professional mourner (na>ih)
who chanted elegies, related stories of the sufferings of the imams, and
in time read one of the martyrdom narrati-ves (maqtitil) which were
154 The sigh if the sorrowful
written specifically for that purpose. Such professional leaders of the

tacz'iyah majalis were also known as qurra> al-lfusayn (readers for
f:lu~ayn). 36 These leaders contributed much to the growth of Shjl-i
popular piety, especially to the crystallization of the MuQ.arram cultus.
Itis related that one day, as the mosque of Baghdad was crowded with
people celebrating a tacziyah majlis, a man came and asked for a
well-known na>ih. The old man declared that he had seen Fa~imah
al-Zahra> in a dream; she had ordered him to seek that particular na>ih
and convey her command to him to mourn her son with the poem of
cAli al-Nashi'. Hearing this, men beat their breasts and faces in ex-
citement and offered the messenger of the holy woman all kinds of
hospitality. He refused, saying 'God forbid that I, the slave of my
mistress al-Zahra>, accept wages for her service. ' 37 Since such pro-
fessional mourners are still present, fresh tales, expressing the pleasure
of members of the Holy Family with those who show their utmost
dedication to their memory, continue to be told. Hence, the old
relationship of the imams and their followers is never broken, rather it
is often renewed by fresh dynamic contacts between the imams and
their
I
devotees.
By the end of the third century in Baghdad, Aleppo and Cairo,'
there were special houses for the ta!z'iyah celebrations known as
lfusayn'iyyat. To this day, these large halls are constructed as annex~s
to mosques; frequently they are gathering places for all kinds of
official and unofficial religious ceremoni~s and occasions.) Primarily,
-however, these halls are houses of sorrow where people gather to
share in the tragic lives of the imams. ~he lfusayn'iyyah of a town or
village has come to serve as the starting pqint of die c.Ashura> pro-
cession. ~For over eleven centuries, .devotees have formed into large
processions on special occasions .. They go through the streets of the
town chanting dirges for the ll1)iim and his family, and finally return to
the lfusayn'iyyah for the actual celebration of a tacz'iyah majlis. In many
places where the seclusion of women is still strictly observed, J'!len go
out during the day and women at q.ight, barefoot and bareheaded,
lamenting the dead of Karbala> a_s they beat their breasts and heads.
Even to the present time, as the"auth9r witnessed in Iran recently, in
spite of the disapproval of both the civil and religious authorities,
women and men beat themselves with chains inflicting wounds on
The ta!ziyah celebration: its growth and general characteristics 155
their heads with large sharp knives to display their grief and share the
actual physical pains of the family of the Prophet Mubammad. .
Quite early in the development of the Mubarram cultus, people felt
the need for some concrete symbol or representation of the events. of
Karbala>. First a horse appeared in ~iddle of the procession.,
covered with a shroud and smeared with Dlood; this represented the
horse ofi;Iusayn after the Imam's death. 38 By the tenth Islamic century
(fifteenth century A.D.), this procession began to evolve into the
familiar passion play, or what may be more accurately termed the
representation (shabih) of the entire battle of Karbala>, wiTh people
playing the various roles of its major characters. 39 We need not here
enter into any detailed discussion of this interesting phenomenon in
Sh"i't Islam, as it has received attention from many scholars for the last
three centuries. It is important to emphasize, however, once more that
the ta<zlyah celebration has assumed many forms, reflecting the
diverse cultures in which it is commonly held. As the author grew up
in a Sh'N milien, it may be of some interest to describe a few such
t:e_lebrations in which he took part.
"'\'Although the death ofi;Iusayn and his family and friends is usually
commemorated during the first ten days of Mubarram of every year,
ta!zlyah majalis may be sponsored by people at any time in fulfillment
qf a vow, in gratitude to God for a successful undertaking, in dedi-
cation of a new house, or simply out of the desire of a pious person to
have a ta<z"iyah majlis held at his home. The months of Rama(ian, the
rest ofMubarram and up tp the 20th ofSafar are especially favored for
holding such memorial sessio':l~:i A majlis held in fulfillment of a vow
or as the desire of an individual is usually brief, lasting not more than
half an hour. It consists of reading an episode of the journey of
I;Iusayn, or the life of the Holy Family in general, and perhaps some
exhortations by the reader. '
Durin~ the !Ashura> period, the ta!ziyah majalis are held in the
afternoons in the homes of prominent people of the village or com-
munity,' and in the evening in the Ifusaynlyyah or some other public
'place. Every evening the community joins the Imiim on his journey
from Medina to Iraq, step by step.\ The majlis begins with a short
reading from the Qur>an, then the reader chants or reads a long passage
or poem describing some of the episodes of that particular day of the
journey, and tries to emphasize some hardship encountered on the

way by the Imam or someone ofhis family. Finally, the reader himself,
o~ another orator, gives a long sermon on the sufferings of earlier
.Prophets or the persecutions suffered by members of the Holy Family
before and after I:Iusayn.
r The majlis is often followed by a procession through the streets of
the town. Such processions give the town or village folk poet an
opportunity to ext!!mporize a dirge for the people to chant as they
parade the streets. They also give the young men of the community an
opportunity to show their devotion, employing all their strength to
.beat their bare chests. Late one summer, the author was amazed by the
fervor of a young man who had just returned from a sanatorium after a
critical lung operation. His loud cries of alliihu akbar and hard chest
beating could have hardly been endured by a healthy person, let alone
one in his condition. Finally, the ta'ziyah majiilis provide an oppor-
tunity for people to show their generosity in sharing their wealth and
even basic provisions with others, as they distribute food and bever-
ages of various kinds to the participants. In large towns or cities, as was
the case in Mashhad, the ta'ziyah majiilis are sponsored by guilds:
bakers, textile, or carpet merchants and the like. The elaborateness and
generosity of food distribution, as \'Veil as the rank and number of the
ta'ziyah leaders in a majlis, depend on the means of the individual or
group sponsoring it.
The day of <Ashuriil itself is the culmination of the enactment of the
tragedy in all its details. The day begins right after the dawn prayers
with a reading of the maqtal, or ma.s,ra<, as it is called in Lebanon, the
actual martyrdom narrative of I:Iusayn, the male members of his
family and friends. The reading is often interrupted by loud prayers
and salutations of peace on Mubammad and his family, and an occa-
sional round of sweets, dates or beverages distributed by a member of
the community in the hope of a heavenly reward for his good deed. It
is especially meritorious to relieve the thirst and hunger of the faithful
on such an occasion, as a sort of substitute for the fervent wish to have
done the same for the martyrs ofKarbalal. Around mid-morning, as
the reading ends, people are again led for a while by a folk poet
specially gifted in dirges (nadb) for the Imam, his children, brothers and
cousins. The day ends, sometimes with a staged enactment of the
The ta(zlyah celebration: its growth and general characteristics 157
events of the martyrdom in a large open air area outside the town, or
with a long ziyiirah of (Ashura>. The observance ends around mid-
afternoon, when the entire congregation is invited to the homes of the
pious and well-to-do for a special meal. The food consists of one dish,
wheat cooked in a broth oflamb or beef shanks, an elaborate dish that
the women usually spend many hours preparing.
As every activity of the (Ashura> period must be in some way related
to the Holy Family and, more specifically, to the event ofKarbala>, the
pious find much edification and symbolism even in this holy repast. A
woman once related that as she and other women of the house were
busy preparing the <Ashural harlsah, as this dish is called, a venerable
old woman came to help, She was invited to stay and share the food,
but she declined, saying, 'Would I eat food prepared for _the soul of my
brother I:Iusayn?' The woman, of course, was Zaynab, the sorrowful
sister of the martyred Imam.
For some people, even these shanks of animals and large chunks of
meat used in the 1Ashura> food have their symbolic significance. (Ali
al-Akbar was supposed to have been cut into pieces by the swords of
the enemies. Thus the pieces of meat serve as a reminder of his cruel
death. Such dramatic and often gory symbolism is quite common in
popular ShN Mubarram folklore. It may be of some interest, there-
fore, to conclude these remarks.on the ta(ziyah celebrations with a few
words about one such dramatic tale.
I:Iusayn, according to folk tradition, had a young daughter three or
four years old called Ruqayyah. When the captives were brought to
Yazid, she wept incessantly, asking for her father. One night she
dreamed of him and woke up utterly distraught with grief for his
absence. Yazid ordered that her father's head be brought to her so she
might look at it and be consoled. The young girl took the head to her
bosom and cried out with bitter tears:
0 father, who did bathe you in your blood! 0 father who did sever
your jugular vein! 0 father, who made me an orphan when I am still
a child! Who is left for us after you~ who shall succor a young orphan
girl until she grows up. 0 father, who shall care for the widows after
you .... Lost without you are these tearful eyes of the women.
Terrible without you, 0 father, is our despair and captivity. Would
that I could have been a ransom for you. Would that I was blind and
could not see your grey head stained with your blood. 40
The girl then pressed her lips to the dead mouth and died. This story
may be taken as a good representative of the highly popular literature
of the MuQ.arram piety. Such folklore tales ofter. provide the themes of
popular elegies (marathi), especially those put in .the mouth of one or
another of the women of the Holy Family. Poetry has played an
important role both in the inct;ption and growth of the MuQ.arram
cultus; we shall therefore now turn to the consideration of this impor-
tant genre of the tacziyah literature.
5.3 THE PLACE OF LAMENTATION PoETRY (Marathi) IN THE MUJ:IARRAM

CULTUS
One of the most important elements in the development of the tacziyah

ritual has been, and still is, poetry. In verse, .the poet could express
religious, cultural and social ideas and sentiments, not only ofhis heart
and mind, but also of the collective soul of the people, so to speak. The
poet, in a way, portrays his culture and speaks for his people. Before
we analyze a few of the poetic themes and relate them to the hagio-
graphical developments with which we have been concerned in this
study, a word may be in order concerning the actual emphasis placed
on the composition and recitation oflamentation poems, of what we
may call dirges or elegies (marathi) by the imams themselves.
The purpose of writing and reciting such poetry is not simply to
display artistic talent, but more importantly to induce sorrow and
weeping. Yet a poem that does not describe in tender and highly
artistic language some aspect or episode of the tragedy would not have
fulfilled its purpose. This gives the marathi genre of poetry a unique
character. It is perhaps the most dramatic and ep.ic-like poetry, at least
in Arabic.
It may be safely inferred from many reports that the imams, espe-
cially the sixth Imam, used to gather their followers together to
remember the death ofl::lusayn. Poets were often asked to recite their
verses of lamentation and grief for the gatherings. Two closely
The place of lamentation poetry 159
analogous traditions are most often cited by Sht<i scholars, both early
and modern ones. One day, the sixth Imiim, Ja1far al-Sadiq, asked one
of his followers, Abii 1Imarah al-Munshid (the chanter or reciter), to
recite some verses about I:Iusayn. The man began to recite his verses,
and the Imiim and his family began to weep until the wailings of the
women could be heard in the street. The verses our chanter recited
were not of his own composition; they will be discussed later. The
Imiim then announced to Abii 1Imarah the great reward he would have
in the world to come and continued:
... He who recites poetry about l:Iusayn, causing fifty persons to
weep and weeps himself, will have a place in paradise.
Then the Imiim continued to repeat the same statement, each time
reducing the number of people caused to weep: first to thirty, twenty,
ten, then even to one. He concluded, ' ... Even if one recites poetry
about I:Iusayn and weeps himself alone, or even pretends to weep, his
will be paradise on the Day of Resurrection. ' 41
Two important factors have always given poetry a special place in
the ta 1ziyah ritual: the Arabic poetic genius and the place poetry has
enjoyed in Arabic culture, both before and after Islam; and, equally
important, the high reward promised the poet on the Day of Judg-
ment. We shall now turn to a brief discussion of some of the major
themes and techniques of the mariithi poetry. As the literature is truly
vast, we shall have to choose only a few examples, following a loose
chronology for the early centuries. 42
The hagiographical traditions and pietistic religious ideas so far
discussed in this study are powerfully and dramatically expressed in
very early poems. We have chosen somewhat arbitrarily a few themes
to serve as a structural basis for this brief discussion. Our first major
theme will be the assertion, in different forms and contexts, that the
killing of I:Iusayn was a great sin committed by his murderers, as
grievous as the annulment of the sacred precepts of the religion or the
killing of a prophet. The second theme will deal with the piety and
generosity of the murdered Imiim, and the nobility, beauty and suf-
fering of the women captives. Rarely is I:Iusayn portrayed as the great
warrior we saw in Chapter 4. The poetry we are considering is meant
to evoke sorrow, not the spirit ofheroism, in the mind of the faithful.
Our third theme will be the participation of all things in creation in

the sorrows and sufferings of the Imam and his family, and the linking
of this tragedy to the prophets of old. This theme is quite a familiar
one, as our discussion in Chapter 1 demonstrated. The idea, however,
of linking the ancient prophets to the death of f:lusayn appears
somewhat late in poetry. More recent literature asserts that it
was for the sake of the imams that the prophets enjoyed divine
favor.
Fourthly we shall discuss a poetical technique which is especially
popular. This is the dramatization of a specific aspect or episode of the
Mubarram tragedy where the speaker is one of the Holy Family, either
the prophet, his daughter Fatimah, or one of the women who was
present at the battle. This dialogue between the Prophet and one of the
women of the Holy Family usually presents the complaint of the
family ofl;Iusayn for the wrong they have suffered. Occasionally, the
person addressed is F:itimah, the mother of the Imam; her pathetic
reaction is vividly portrayed. This poetic device provides a powerful
instrument for the ta<zlyah leader to create the proper emotional
atmosphere for the actual ta<zlyah majlis. This will be a suitable point of
transition to the last section of this discussion; that is, a consideration
of a few dirges which are specifically meant to be chanted in the
ta<ziyah majlis.
The period following the death of f:lusayn was a stormy one in
Islamic history. Poets did not generally dare to compose poetry in his
memory; when they did, it was kept secret out offear of the Umayyad
authorities. 43 The first poet, according to some reports, to compose an
elegy (marthiyah) on I:Iusayn was <Jqbah b. <Amr al-Sahm1. 44 In al-
Sahmi's marthlyah, we see a kind of warm and simple piety and grief
for the death of the Imam and those martyred with him. It is an,
expression of devotion and reverence, free from the hagiographical
and political allusions characteristic of many other poems, especially
those belonging to later centuries. The poet, we are told, visited
Karbala> either soon after the death of I:Iusayn or later towards the
end of the century. 45 There he stopped at the tomb of the Imam and
recited his verses. His poem seems to have been composed in
Karbala>, perhaps extemporized as a sudden expression of deep
emotion.
I passed the grave ofl;Iusayn in Karbala>, and on it my tears flowed

copiously.
I continued to weep and grieve for his suffering, and my eye was
well assisted by tears and sobs. And with him I mourned a group of
men whose graves surround his own.
May the light of an eye, seeking consolation in life when you
[l;Iusayn and his followers] were frightened in this world, be
darkened.
Peace be upon the dwellers of these graves in Karbala> ... May
peace be upon them with the setting of the sun and its rising: Peace
carried from me by the winds as they blow to and fro.
Men in troops continue to flock in pilgrimage to his grave, where on
them flows its musk and sweet fragrance. 46
The last verse of this short poem may indicate a later development in
the reference it makes to the pilgrims. It may be, on the other hand,
simply an expression of praise for the Imam in drawing large groups of
people to his grave.
It was argued in Chapter 4 that the death of l;Iusayn has been
regarded as a source of inspiration as well as a definite offense against
the religion oflslam; these ideas are as old as the tragedy itsel( l;Iusayn,
as we have seen, reproached his opponents for the unlawful and
irreligious act of seeking to kill the son of the Prophet's daughter. This
charge of unforgivable crime against the Imam's murderers, as well as
the fact that his death was as grievous as the death or violation of all
religious principles, has provided the theme for much poetic literature
since the time of the tragic event itsel
It is reported that a man of the second generation after th_e com-
panions of the Prophet, 47 the followers (al-tiibi'un) as they are called,
disappeared for a month after seeing the head ofl;Iusayn nailed to the
gate ofYazid's palace in Damascus. When he reappeared, his friends
asked the reason for his long absence. He said, 'Do you not see what
has befallen us?' Then he recited the following verses:
They came with your head 0 son of Mubammad's daughter
thoroughly bathed in its blood.
Thirsty did they kill you, no regard to revelation (tanzil) or exegesis
(ta>w'il) did they show in your death.
It is as though, through you 0 son of the daughter ofMubammad,

they purposely killed an apostle.
They cried as they killed you 'God is most great', yet in killing you
they truly killed the cries of takb'ir and tahlll. 48
This sense of shame, humiliation and remorse has found expression in

almost all poems written in praise of the Holy Family, or in com-
memoration of their sufferings. The sanctity oflslam and its Prophet
were thought to have been violated by men who professed faith in the
religion oflslam and the apostleship of its Prophet. It was equally felt
by men who were themselves the perpetrators of the shameful act, and
by those who did nothing to prevent it. Such feelings often express
themselves in violent outbreaks of revolt and other political activities.
Also, inevitably, men motivated by the love of power and political
gain took full advantage of these feelings. It is, for instance, an his-
torical fact that the (Abbasid dynasty rose to power on the basis of their
kinship with the Holy Family and through the loyalty of Shi<i Mus-
lims. We can observe a fluctuation in the development of the Mubar-
ram commemoration between free and powerful expression of the
pietistic emotions and imagination of the faithful, and the quiet and
often muilled tearful voices of the poets and the rest of the com-
munity. This fluctuation, however, was never widespread or lasting.
It was therefore never a hindrance to the growth of the rich poetic
literature which continues to develop down to our own time.
A poet, Ja(far.Ibn (Aff:in al-Ta>i, who died about two decades after
the establishment of(Abbasid rule (d. ca. 153/770) could still be clear in
his condemnation of the Umayyad culprits and their accomplices. He,
like many other poets of the first two centuries of Islamic history,
belonged to the circle of the imiims and first recited poetry to them.
AI-Tal} recited his verses to the sixth Imiim in one of the ta(z'iyah
commemoration sessions.
He began his poem with the declaration, 'Let him who wishes to
~eep, weep for Islam for its principles (ahkiim) were violated and
abandoned.' Then the poem describes the death of I:Iusayn and his
having been left a prey for birds and beasts on the sands of Karbala>.
Men did not lend him support because they lost their senses and went
astray. The poet continues:
They rather extinguished their light with their own hands, may
those hands be paralyzed. For I;Iusayn called upon them for help in
his struggle in the name of Mubammad as his son, l;Iusayn, was as
dear to him as his own soul. Nor did they respect his kinship to the
Apostle, and their feet stumbled and went astray. May the Merciful
not bless the community of his grandfather, even though they may
perform prayers and fasts to God.... 49
Another _poet who lived about a century later, al-Sirri, 50 expressed in a
few powerful verses most of the sentiments connected with the death
of Imam I;Iusayn. The poet begins with a sort of prayer that the tomb
containing the corpse of the thirsty Imam be shaded with aromatic
plants (rayhan). He then continues to describe the feelings of the
devotees at the mention or remembrance of the Imam:
It is as though our hearts at his remembrance are placed on burning
coals, or are pierced with sharp knives.
The poet then reiterates the idea that the death ofi:Iusayn was like the
destruction of religion:
Forsooth they did not efface the traces of his father, rather in killing
him they destroyed the foundations of religion. 51
The last verse alludes to the political idea that by killing l;Iusayn, his
enemies sought to destroy the spiritual and political ideals which <Ali
embodied for the Sht. For
while in recent times many Muslim thinkers, and even Sht<i ones, have
consciously attempted to purge the Mubarram cultus of many of its
mythical and supernatural accretions, they continue to see the death of
l;Iusayn as the most important, powerful protest in Islamic history
against all wrong, religious as well as political.
As previously observed, f:lusayn was seldom portrayed as a hero,
especially in poetry and other types of ta<zfyah literature. His suf-
ferings, abandonment and, finally, ruthless murder are themes better
suited to heighten the emotions of the participants and draw out their
tears. His beauty and nobility, as well as that of his womenfolk,

besides adding a romantic element to the otherwise sordid picture,
have served to stir the emotions of the devotees. f::lusayn whose
luminous countenance even in his last moments of life dazzled those
who saw him, 52 was soiled with blood and sand and left to be dis-
colored by the burning sun. Likewise, his sisters and daughters who
had been hidden from the eyes of men, and whose beauty struck those
who saw them as they were carried off as captives, were unveiled and
exposed for all to see, mounted on camels without cover or pro-
tection.53
Al-Sirri expressed these ideas with great clarity and artistic excel-
lence. In his verses, we see the skillful use of imagery against the usual
effective background of tragedy and suffering. Here are a few verses
from the beginning of a long poem:
Shall I forget at the banks of the Euphrates (al- Ta.ff) f::lusayn lying
slain on the ground, and around him the pure ones [that is, other
male members of his family] like the resplendent stars.
Shall I forget f::lusayn on the day when his head was carried away,
radiant as the full moon (badr) on a full moon night.
Shall I forget the women captives, how, after the seclusion of soft
chambers, were exposed. 54
This theme of the nobility and magnanimity of Imam f::lusayn is
expressed with a deep feeling oflove and bereavement, the intimacy of
a loving and distraught wife, in the few verses attributed to his wife,
al-Rabab, of the tribe ofKalb. f::lusayn was especially fond of her and
her young daughter, Sukaynah; he admitted his love in a few warm
and delicate verses. 55 We are told56 that, after his death, she never slept
under a roof, but spent the last year of her life wandering in the
wilderness and mourning her martyred husband. In the following
short poem, she recalls f::lusayn as a loving husband, a refuge for the
poor and destitute and a provider for his children:
Behold him who was a light shining in the darkness, is now in

KarbaJa> slain and unburied . . .
You were for me a fast mountain to lean upon, and you were a true
friend in kinship (ra~im) and faith (din).
Who is left for the orphans and the needy after him who used to
provide for the destitute, and to whom every poor person would
run for refuge.... 57
Among the most important poets who dedicated their talents to the
praise and elegizing of the Holy Family was Ismacil Ibn Mubammad
al-Bimyari, who lived in Baghdad between 205/820 and 273/886, or
278/891. Al-I::Iimyar:i was himself a sayyid, a descendant of the
Prophet's family. He is significant not only for his lineage but also for
his poetry, which was not only ofhigh artistic calibre, but also typified
the religious as well as the political mood of his time.
His famousqa~'idah, already referred to in this chapter, 58 opens in the
usual old Arabic style by addressing a visitor to the tomb of the
beloved, thus presenting a concrete picture of the lover or devotee
remembering his beloved on the spot of his death. The poet recalls
how the sacred bones oflmam I::Iusayn, the main subject of the poem,
were trampled by the hooves of strong horses. He declares that, after
this grave event, life could never again be pleasant. Alluding to the
excellence of the Imam and his family, their being most worthy of
te.mporal and spiritual leadership, he says:
Behold a grave containing a man whose ancestors are the pure ones,
the best of all men.
His fathers were the people of leadership, the true successors of the
Prophet and his vicegerents.
They were men of great virtue, men of refined character and pleas-
ant temperament.
The poet then turns to the hypothetical visitor of the sacred shrine and
says:
And when you pass by his grave let the halt of your mount be long.
Weep there for the pure one, the son of the pure man [CAli] and pure
and unblemished woman [Fatimah].
Weep like a wailing woman whose man is suddenly snatched by
death. 59
The poet ends by again returning to the political aspects of the conflict
between the Imam and his antagonists. He charges his hypothetical
pilgrim to curse Ibn Sa<d and others of the Imam's enemies, naming the
chief ones. He emphasizes I:Iusayn's courage and great virtue, con-
trasting them with the greed, cowardliness and treachery ofhis oppo-
nents. As the purpose of all such elegiac poetry is to bring forth the
tears and sighs of the faithful, al-I:Iimyari ends his poem with these
two powerful verses:
0 my eye, weep therefore as long as you live for those who always
honored their word and kept their covenant.
What excuse have you to cease shedding tears ofblood, when of that
you are most worthy. 60
We have seen often in this study how the afflictions of the 'people of
the cloak' (ahl al-kisa>) were reflected in nature, in the stars and inhabit-
ants ofheaven, and even in hell and paradise. The prophets and holy
men of old shared in the grief and su(fering of the Holy Family; for
their sakes, they were blessed and honored by God. All these ideas,
with many variations, are expressed in poetry. In fact, this theme of
the participation of all things in the great tragedy of I:Iusayn and his
family appears in some of the earliest poems, continuing for many
centuries as one of the richest themes not solely limited to ShN poetry.
Al-Shafi<i (Mubammad b. ldris al-Shafi<i, d. 204/819), one of the
most important Sunni jurists and founder of the Shafi<i school of
jurisprudence fjiqh ), left us a very good example of this type of elegiac
poetry. He begins his poem on the usual note of sorrow and tears for
the sufferings of the ahi al-bayt. Then, referring to the martyred Imam,
he describes 'a man slain for no wrong he had committed, whose shirt
is dyed as though in crimson'. The poet goes on to depict the event of
Karbala> in vivid imagery. 'There was much wielding of the sword
and great clatter of the spears, and of the horses there was much
sobbing after sorrowful neighing.' The theme then shifts to the por-
tents manifesting the participation of nature in the universal grief:
The world quaked for the sake of the family ofMubammad, and the
hard mountains almost melted.
Brilliant stars darkened and others quivered as many veils were
violated and many garments rent.
This refers to the violation of the sanctity of the women captives, their
own sorrows and rending of garments. Al-Shafi<i then asks in aston-
ishment how men could pronounce prayers and salutations on the

Apostle of the clan of Hashim and yet attack his descendants. He
concludes by asserting:
... if my sin is my love for the family of Muhammad then this is a
sin of which I shall never repent. For they are my intercessors on the
day of my standing before God for the final reckoning, the day on
which men shall behold great and fearful things. 61
The theme we are considering was articulated by one of the earliest
poets in what may be the first or second elegy to come down to us.
The poet is Sulayman Ibn Qattah, who died in lJamascus around
126/743. 62 From the reference the poet makes to specific tribal rela-
tions and feuds, it may be inferred that his marthiyah is very old. Like
many other poets, he sets the background with an actual visit to
Karbala 1, then goes on to describe the sorrow this visit evoked in him.
In the second verse, the poet declares in the form of a rhetorical
question:
... do you not see how the sun became sick for the 'death ofi:Iusayn
and all lands were disturbed.
For they [the Holy Family] have become a grave loss for us after
being a great hope ...
The poet then reproaches the tribe of Qays for their treachery and
promises revenge. Shimr, the infamous antagonist of I:Iusayn, was a
member of that tribe; therefore, to some extent, the whole tribe must
share in his guilt. Ibn Qattah finally returns to the theme of the grief of
the cosmos: 'Behold the heavens took to weeping for his death, and
our stars mourned him and prayed for him. ' 63
The last two poems, although quite early, show a fair degree of
development. Whether such poems, written at the beginning of the
ta 1ziyah development, must be regarded as simply exaggerations
intended to dramatize the tragic event, or whether they actually echo
ideas already current in the community, we cannot determine with
absolute certainty. However, we can discerp. the rapid growth of the
idea of the cosmic significance ofi:Iusayn's death in poetry no less than
in prose. A poet who died around the middle of the fourth century of
the hijrah (mid-tenth century) could already end one of his long and
dramatic elegies with the reproach, '. . . 0 you sons of treachery,

whom did you kill?! By my life you killed him through whom all
existence subsists. ' 64
We have seen that the prophets of old were told of the sorrows and
sufferings of the Holy Family, and directly shared in them. We saw
further, in Chapter 2, that Adam's sin of disobedience was forgiven for
the sake of the imams; their names were the secret knowledge revealed
to him and the cause ofhis forgiveness. An unnamed poet who must
have lived around the 11th/17th century carries this idea to its ultimate
conclusion. 65 He proclaims that the imams are the light of God and the
secret meaning of many of the surahs of the Qur>an. Their names were
inscribed from eternity on the throne of God. So far the poet simply
reiterates some of the ideas we have already encountered in the second
chapter of this study. Then he goes further:
... had it not been for their sakes, Adam would not have been
created nor would any other man have come into being. The earth
would not have been spread, or the hea.vens lifted up, nor would
have the sun risen or the full moon appeared. In their names, Noah
invoked God's help in the ark, and thus was saved from the waters
of the flood.
Nor, if it were not for them would the fire of the friend (khalll)
[Abraham] have turned into coolness and peace, 66 neither would
those great coals have become extinguished.
If it were not for them, Jacob's sorrow would have never ended, nor
Job's aillictions have been taken away from him.
The poem goes on to list all other major prophets, and to show that
their miracles were granted for the sake of the imams. The imams were
the secret power in the staff of Moses; for their sake, the sea was
parted. For their sake, David's repentance was accepted, and jesus was
able to raise the dead. 67 The last verse declares, in fact, that the secret of
every prophet before them was part of, or due to, their secret. The
special favor granted to each of the major biblical prophets was so
granted because of the imams; whatever esoteric powers the prophets
possessed were derived from the imams' esoteric power. Not only
prophetic power depended on their being, but the entire creation
revolved around them. These are not new ideas, but received new
power and intensity through poetic expression; poetry had to serve

the same function and purpose for Muslims that the icon and other
pictorial representations did in Christian piety.
One unnamed poet painted such an effective picture that his verses
are chanted in many majiilis of the <.A.shura> celebration. 5 8 The poet
begins by declaring his great sorrow for the martyrs of Karbala1: 'I
have wept for the killing of the family ofMubammad, on the banks of
the Euphrates (al- Ta.ff) until every member of my body shed tears.'
Then the poet begins by painting his picture of their plight:
... and the womenfolk of Mubammad were among the enemies,
pillaged and their goods divided amongst low and dissolute men.
They were pushed around like slave girls, mistreated and beaten
with whips ... as though they were war captives or even more
lowly..
Their head covers and veils were forcibly tom off their heads and
faces.
Behold a man, his limbs tied in stalks with no one to set him free,
and a noble woman taken captive and her earrings snatched away.
He finally turns to the martyred Imam:
By God, I cannot forget I:Iusayn dismembered under the hooves of
the horses.
Stripped ofhis clothes, clad only in a garment of crimson, and yet on
the morrow he was to wear garments of paradise.
The picture here painted includes all of nature. ' ... the sun wailed as
would a bereaved mother, with hair disheveled, 69 and time (dahr) rent
its garments and masked its face. ' 70
One interesting element which we often see in poetry is the exag-
geration of actual facts, such as the treatment of captives by their
captors. Our early sources say the captives were robbed of their
jewelry and other such finery, but there is no mention of any kind of
violence being inflicted on them. Yet later poets, wishing to draw a
sharp contrast between the sufferings of the Holy Family and the
cruelty of their captors, assert that the women were driven before their
captives with whips. This is yet another means by which the poets
could stir the feelings of pity and sorrow in their hearers.
The mariith'i genre of poetry often employed dramatic dialogue.

Such dialogues would be introduced by or interspersed with pathetic
pictures of the suffering ofl:lusayn and his family. Another interesting
characteristic of this type of poetry is the use of a story-telling tech-
nique in describing the events ofKarbala> and the situation of one or
more persons as they were killed or frightened by the ruthless mobs of
Ibn Sa1d's army. Sometimes this technique is used with great intricacy
and dramatic skill. Often a poet starts a dialogue between himself and
the Prophet, and then, when relating a different episode of the tragedy,
puts the words in the mouth of one of the women who witnessed the
episode.
One of the most famous early poets, Di1bil Ibn 1Ali al-Khuza1i, 71
excelled in the use of this technique. In fact, his poetry covers all the
themes we have been considering and many other's in a great variety of
poetic expression. In his famous 'Ta>'iyyah ', Di1bil relates the story of
Karbala>, mentioning or alluding to most of the traditions connected
with it. Towards the end of his poem he addresses Fa~imah, the
mother of the martyred Imiim:
0 Fatimah, if you could only imagine I:Iusayn slain, killed thirsty on
the bank of the Euphrates; you would then beat your cheeks, 0
Fatimah, over him and let your tears flow copiously down your
face.
0 Fatimah, rise up, 0 daughter of goodness, and raise the dirge for
[men] like heavenly stars lying dead in the wilderness ...
The poet then goes on to enumerate the graves of the imams and their
descendants, naming the lands of their dispersion. Finally, he reiterates
the fervent hope of every Sh'N Muslim of witnessing the return of the
twelfth Imiim, the Mahd'i: ' ... until the day of gathering (hashr) when
God shall send the qa>im (Mahd'i) to relieve us of all sorrows and
afflictions.... ' 72
In an"ather poem, Di1bil relates the martyrdom (maqtal) of I:Iusayn,
employing the dialogue form at several points. He begins in a way
familiar in classical Arabic poetry, where a hypothetical person stand-
ing at the ruins of the beloved is addressed:
0 you who are standing mourning the ruins and chanting, by God,
you have gone astray and your guide has left you.
Why do you claim much sorrow when you seek comfort? If you
truly are sorrowful, how is it that you can sleep? 73
The poet goes on to provide the guidance his hypothetical friend has
lost; he enjoins him to weep for }::Iusayn and his family instead, just as
Mubammad and the angels ofheaven wept for them. The religion of
Islam was torn asunder at his death, anct since that day, all Islam
continues to mourn him.
After this long introduction, the poet turns to recount the maqtal
with the sister of}::Iusayn, Zaynab, as narrator. He introduces her thus:
How can there be rest when Zaynab, among the women captives,
fervently cried out, '0 Abmad, behold }::Iusayn cut to pieces with
swords, a martyr bathed in his blood.
Naked, without a shroud or garment was he, his bones broken by
the hooves of the horses.
And your sons, the virtuous ones, lying slain around him like
sacrificial victims, with no one to give them burial.'
Having painted this picture of blood and death, the poet goes on to
show the reaction of the cosmos to the grave event. The moon and
stars at }::Iusayn's death gathered together in mourning. They wept
because they saw }::Iusayn killed by many enemies with few to defend
him. The sorrowful sister of the Imam continues to tell the Prophet
how she and the other women were carried captives, humiliated and
their sanctity violated. She then describes the orphans: ' ... around me
are the orphans of my brother, robbed of their clothes and humiliated'.
After complaining of their thir~t. while dogs could drink safely from
the waters of the Euphrates, she returns to describe the manner in
which }::Iusayn was killed:
. . . 0 grandfather, behold Shimr treacherously wishing to slay
}::Iusayn, 0 what eye can control its tears. When he [Shimr] was
about to let the sword fall upon him, he [}::Iusayn] called out in a low
voice '0 Thou who art the only One (awhad), Thou are witness over
them and Thou seest their wrongdoing. ' 74
Di<bil's poems on the tragedy ofMubarram present a complete picture
of that tragedy and the grief of the entire universe. Yet he, unlike many
'
other poets, retains a continuity of presentation which gives his poetry

epic character.
Another poet who displayed similar talent and sensitivity was
Abmad Ibn Mubammad Ibn al-I:Iasan al-Sanawbari, a famous poet
who died in Aleppo in 334/945. He emphasized J:lusayn's noble death
more than his valor as a fighter. In fact, al-Sanawbari draws a sharp
contrast between J:lusayn standing firm like a lion in the face of death
and J:lusayn lying on the ground muttering pathetic cries for help with
no one to come to his aid:
... who shall come to the aid of one whose horse was wou~ded and
whose tents were .pulled down.
Who is for the dismembered corpse left naked and abandoned under
the sky.
Who is for the one who was embalmed with sand and washed with
his blood . . .75
While al-Sanawbari employs dramatic techniques to portray the
tragedy and draw his hearers into its spirit, he remains somewhat
restrained and sober. It is interesting to compare the way a contem-
porary ofhis, al-Saqr al-Mii~ili (d. 305/914), expresses similar ideas.
The poet addresses the Prophet, relating to him what his descendants
suffered after his death. He describes how J:lasan vomited ~p his liver
because of the .,Poison he was treacherously given to drink. Then he
describes how the. thirsty J:lusayn was killed in Karbala> and his family
taken captive as though they were not the family of the Prophet.
Al-Mii~ili, wishing to show how J:lusayn suffered and was wrongly
beheaded, then loses his sense of sequence. He writes, ' ... a body
without a head lying on the ground, stretching once a limb and then
contracting another in great fear'. 76 The poet, it seems, was not
troubled by the fact tliat the agonizing state of the Imiim he describes
should have preceded his beheading.
We are dealing here with poetic exaggeration, quite common
among the mariithi poets. One final example of this type of exag-
geration may be seen in the work of <Ali Ibn Isbaq al-Zahi. He
represents a tren~ of exaggeration which continues to the present
time, at least in Arabic and Persian poetry, the two languages familiar
to the author. We have already seen the poet's extremism in regarding
f:lusayn as the person through whom all existence subsists. In the

poem we are about to consider, he paints in popular language a vivid
and exaggerated picture of the women captives after the martyrdom
of tlieir protector.
. . . I can imagine Zaynab by I:Iusayn's side, her hair disheveled.

There she stopped, rubbing her hair on his bleeding neck and
displaying all her hidden sorrows.
And Fa~imah [I:Iusayn's daughter] quaking with fear as she saw the
whip coming down to strike her side. 77
The poet goes on to describe the death ofi:Iusayn, how his head was
carried on a spear to the Umayyad authorities, first in Kiifah and then
itt Damascus.
In the previous chapter, many orations were attributed to various
)Pembers of the family ofl:lusayn after his death. While the orations
~isplay a great deal of rhetoric and a high degree of sophistication,{the
poetry for the most part is written for popular audiences and clearly
designed to be used in popular tacziyah celebrations. As usual, the first
to raise the lamentation in verse was Zaynab, the woman who
assumed responsibility for the orphans until they were brought back
to Medina. As far as can be ascertained, the poem attributed to her is
reported only in very late sources, perhaps not earlier than Majlisi's
Bi~iir, where it is quoted in its entirety. 78
Majlisi puts the poem in the context of a spontaneous tacziyah majlis.)
He reports that while Umm Kulthiim, I:Iusayn's other sister, was
reproaching the Kiifans for their treachery, the head ofi:Iusayn was
carried by. Seeing it, Zaynab could not control her emotions; she hit
her forehead on the post ofher litter and blood gushed out. Then she
beckoned to the people to listen and lamented her brother in verse. She
starts by expressing deep sorro.w for her brother's fate and then goes
on:
... 0 my brother, behold Fatimah [that is, his daughter]; speak to
her for her heart is nigh melting.
0 my brother, your compassionate heart towards us, why has it
become hard as stone.
0 my brother, if you could only see Zayn aJ-CAbidin captive and
orphaned, unable to move. Each time he receives the painful blows,

he cries to you in tears and humiliation.
0 my brother, draw him to you, embrace him and calm his
frightened heart.
How humiliating it is for an orphan to call upon his father when he
is nowhere to come to his rescue. 79
It is clear that this poem is not intended to tell a story or report the
details of the battle and its aftermath, but rather to present an imagina-
tive picture of the sick youth, pathetic enough(to inflame the emotions
of the participants of the ta<zlyah celebration~ Here again our sources
generally agree that the men of Ibn Sa<d's army were specifically
ordered not to disturb the sick boy; as far as we know, this order
was obeyed. But of course Shi<i piety stopped at nothing in
trying to portray the antagonists' cruelty toward the Imam and his
family.
Another poem attributed to the Imam's sister, Umm Kulthum,
expresses the same. sentiments as the poem we have just discussed.
Umm Kulthum's poem, however, is especially interesting in that we
can see how it grew from a few verses in the early sources to a long and
poorly constructed popular elegy. 80 In its abbreviated form, the poem
is a statement ofhow the family ofi;Iusayn left Medina with men and
youths only to return orphaned and humiliated. '0 city, Medina of
our grandfather, receive us not; for we return to you with sorrows and
bereavements. We left you with a family intact, and we return to you
with neither men nor sons. '81
In the longer version of the poem only the first verse is the same.
The ideas expressed in the second and third verses are couched in
much more popular language and drawn out over several verses. A
hypothetical person is asked to relate the situation to the Prophet; he
does so at considerable length. The same story is then told to Fatimah,
with an emphasis on the captivity and persecution of the women.
Another strange characteristic of this poem is that many of the words
and expressions used in it are clearly Persian borrowings from the
Arabic. Often both the grammar and meter are faulty. This may
suggest that this poem in its final form had developed in an area where
both Persian and Arabic were spoken. The elegy is undoubtedly
meant for the lamentation (niyahah) sess10ns. Umm Kulthum

addresses Eitimah thus:
... 0 Fatimah if you could only see your daughters captives and
scattered in the lands.
... 0 Fatimah, what you have suffered at the hands of your enemies
was not more than an inch (q'ira() of what we have endured. Thus if
you were still living, till the Day ofResurrection, you would have
continued to sing the dirge for us ...
After Fatimah, I:Iasan is addressed and the same story is repeated with
slight variations. This poem is put together artificially, without much
care for _consistency: in the last verse, for example, it addresses not the
people it is intended to address, but the supposed participants in the
ta 1zlyah: ' ... and this is my story and situation (sharh hal), weep for us
then all you who have heard me. 'K 2
One last poem worthy of note is a short elegy attributed to
l:Iusayn's daughter Sukaynah. It has already been observed that
I:Iusayn was especially fond of her; we are told further that before the
battle, he patted her on the head (as was the custom to indicate the fact
that a sad event was to be disclosed) and comforted her with a few sad
verses.R 3 Sukaynah's elegy is couched in very sophisticated language;
the images and expressions employed are simple, yet tender and
highly artistic.
She begins by declaring that her sorrow and grief will never end,
and asks that her continuous weeping therefore be excused. She goes
on to tell ofi:Iusayn's martyrdom and abandonment, the cause ofher
weeping. As did her aunts and brother in prose, Sukaynah turns in
verse to reproach for their unfaithfulness those who killed her father;
she promises harsh retributions in the hereafter for all except those
who joined his camp. Finally she vows again to weep all her life for her
father's death: '0 my eye occupy yourself in weeping all your life;
weep with tears of blood, not for a child, family or friends, rather for
the son of the Apostle of God. Pour out your tears and blood.... 'K 4
T~e last two verses echo a popular tale of the young daughter's
contmuous weeping after her father's death, to which we shall return
soon: Here again, every member of the family ofl:Iusayn has a role to
play lll the House of Sorrows, thus providing the needed example for
various members of the community. Sukaynah's role is usually that of

the orphan child, serving as an example for mothers with young
children and especially for young girls, who are called upon to emulate
the tears of their example.
The poems we-have been examining, especiaJly those attributed to
members of the Holy Family, emphasize quii:e strongly the element of
lamentation.) Thus, .they should be kept in mind as_we now turn to a
few ~?C;tmples spf"cifically designed for use in the <Ashura> celebration
or in ~~m~ral ta<ziyah r;.:ajiilis. These elegies often have a special rhythm
suited for accompaniment by a beating of the breast as the participants
chant in unison the lamentation verses. The rhythm is of short
staccato-like structure: a short meter is employed, often with intricate
and qpite varied rhymes. The poems constantly return to the first
ver1>e pr verses, which express the main theme.
It will not be possible in this brief discussion of the Mub.arram
poetry, especially lamentation poetry (shi<ral-niyiihah) intended for the
ta<z'iyah celebration, to attempt anything resembling an adequate sur-
vey of the literature. The amount of material available to us in Arabic
alone is truly vast and still growing. We shall therefore content our-
selves with a few repr~sentative examples.
One typical and powerful elegy expresses the ideas we have been
considering, and a great deal more. Abu al-l:lasan <Ali Ibn Ab.mad
al-Jurjani al-Jawhari (d. ca. 380/990) opens his long qa~idah with a call
to the faithful for weeping, whom he addresses as the 'People of
<A.shura>. None of the classical forms of Arabic poetry are followed;
rather the poet immediately comes to the point ofhis call. The people
pf <A.shural are enjoined to remember that <A.shura> was the day of the
qemise of Islam, the day the daughters of Mub.ammad were taken
captive as though they were the war captives of Byzantium or China.
Thus th~ poet calls on the family of the Prophet to proclai~ their grief
and mourning. Each verse begins with the word 'today', then recounts
one aspect after another of the tragedy, not an event of past history but
as part of the here and now. Here are a few examples.
Today rose on the heights of al-Taff[the hills ofKarbala>] their [the

Holy Family's] mourner crying, 'Who is to care for an orphan or a
sorrowful and humiliated captive.'
Today the grey beard of the Mu~tafi [chosen one]was smeared with
a blood which has become the perfume of the black-eyed houris ..
Today the flaming light of God was extinguished and the face of
Islam flushed with anger and humiliation. 85
It is not sufficient, however, to talk in abstraction about the con-

sequences of the tragedy; the poet recounts in detail the painful ordeal
of f:lusayn, his death at tl)e hands of Muslims, and the reaction of the
Christian monk of Qinnisrin. 86 The monk reproaches vehemently the
evildoers, professes Islam, and in the end is cut to pieces by the mob
for his harsh words and loyalty to the severed head ofthelmam. As the
poet begins with a general call for weeping, so he ends with an
i~unction to his ,own eyes to shed their tears. ' ... 0 my eye leave no
tears for the morrow or for any other sorrowful man. Rather cry
aloud, and hide no pearls [that is, tears] you have in store, for a sacred
tomb in Karbala>. ' 87
It was observed above that the poems ofla.mentation (niyahah) are

rhythmically well-suited for chanting to the accompaniment of a
measured beating of the breast. An interesting example of this is
provided by the famous poet al-Nashi> al-Saghir <Ali b. Wa~i'f; who
himselfled many lamentation sessions in the fifth/eleventh century, in
Baghdad and other important center~ of the Muslim world. Thepoem
is divided into stanzas of three verses; the third always rhymes with
the last verse of the preceding stanza. The meter is generally short with
a conscious attempt at imitating or at least stimulating a measured
beating of the breast. It will not be possible to demonstrate this
interesting structure in translation, but the themes and ideas ofthe
poems are introduced with an abruptness that accords well with the
rhythmic structure.
This poem is especially interesting for its terse language, and the
pathetic picture it pres~nts ofl~iim f:lusayn pleading for mercy, but to
no avail. This form of dramatic narrative cast in the third person, but
here and there interspersed with first-person statements as the Imam is
made to tell his own story, gives this poetry a particularly powerful
character. It allows the audience to empathize with the characters 'Of
the tragedy and share emotionally in their sorrows and pains. Perhaps
the later Mubarram passion play grew out of this poetic idiom . .In the
178 The sigh of the so"owful
passion play, the characters are represented by actual persons; the

acting, however, remains minimal, the emphasis placed instead on
scenery and dialogue. We can see the trend from a narrated dialogue to
one between real persons, then from word pictures to actual stage
presentations.
Ai-Nashi> begins his elegy by rhetorically asking Sukaynah,
I:Iusayn's daughter, whether her heart was not stricken with grief for
the death of I:Iusayn and I:Iasan. He answers his own question by
declaring that she suffered terrible thirst and sorrow and that every
member of her body shed tears. I:Iusayn then takes up the dialogue,
reminding his opponents ofhis noble lineage, and begging for a drink
of water for his little infant. Of course, the people insist that th~ thirst
of the infant would never be quenched untill:lusayn submits to the
authority of the usurpers. He refuses and chooses to fight instead.
With pointed rapidity, the poet portrays the sorrows of the Holy
Family in the person of I:Iusayn's young daughter, the thirst of an
innocent infant, and the frustration ofl:lusayn, left with no choice but
to sacrifice both the infant and his own life.
Having created the proper atmosphere of empathy and sorrow, the
poet goes on with his story:
... Thus they agreed on betraying him and gathered together to kill
him, to slay him with his infant, and the blades were sharpened.
They pillaged his den (1arin) [likening the Imiim to a lion] and stained
his forehead with blood and soil.
... They violated the sanctity ofhis women and slew his suckling
babe; they found his sick youth, and his wives they took captive ...
They [the women] cried '0 Mubammad! 0 our grandfather
Abmad, behold us taken captive by slaves and all of us are in
mourning. ' 88
Finally the poet renews his call for weeping,'... 0 my eyes, pour out
your tears for the children of the Prophet's daughter. Shed your
copious tear.s without ceasing, for thus should a wise man weep. ' 89
It is not possible to do complete justice to:this genre of poetry, as it
varies so much, not only from culture to culture but even within each
culture~ Men and women extemporize colloquial elegies as, the need
arises. Many of these are on a very popular level, never written down.
In many cases a mourning man or woman leader chooses any one of

the themes discussed in this study and extemporizes verses, displaying
all the ornamentation in the poetic and hagiographic idiom of which
imagination is capable.
One of the most common techniques used inniyiihah poetry, exam-
ples of which have already been discussed, is that of using one of the
women of the Holy Family as a speaker; she recounts the tale of the
suffering of the Imam and his family to another dead family member,
whether the Prophet, the mother of the Imam or, less commonly, his
father or dead brother I:Iasan. The elegy we are about to consider is an
interesting one in that the speaker is Fatimah, the eternal weeper. She
does not relate a story, but rather shows pathetic love and concern for
her dead son. I:Iusayn, who was over fifty years old at the time ofhis
martyrdom, is portrayed as a child physically in need of a mother's
care. Tearfully, Fatimah asks how the various details of her son's
burial were executed. It is perhaps better to let the poem speak for
itself:
How great is my grieffor you, 0 my child, you who are the one lost
to friends and family.
Again I say how great is my sorrow, 0 my child, for after you I shall
desert sleep and even sleeplessness.
Woe is me, who took care of his shrouding, who beheld his face,
throat and eyes.
Woe, woe is me, who did wash him and walk behind his bier.
Woe, woe is me, who did pray over him and lay him in his grave. 90
This popular and powerful poem was consciously composed for the
ta<ziyah majiilis. After the dramatic picture of a helpless man, who in
life could not defend himself, and after death had no one to give him a
proper burial, the poet concludes with an expression of his hope and
the hope of the community in general for the coming of the Mahdi
who will lead the victorious army of God and avenge the blood ofhis
martyred forebear. Moreover, the poem is put in the context of a
movi'ng tale, a sort of apocalyptic dream which Sukaynah had in
Damascus at the house of Y azid.
The young girl sees all the prophets and holy women of old, among
them Mubammad apd his daughter Fatimah. The little girl runs to her
grandmother to complain of what befell them at the hands of their

enemies. Fa~imah,the blood-stained shirt of I::Iusayn pressed to her
bosom, utters a loud and pathetic cry, raising a lamentation with the
dirge just cited.
Perhaps the poet knows, as well as his audience, that the picture
presented is not th_e aCtual story. Yet, while the ta<ziyah majlis lasts,
myth transcends itself; for the moment, it becomes history. For the
historian of religion, however, the myth actually becomes part of
history: the history not of the event, but of the community's under-
standing and interiorization of it, the history not ofhistorical facts, but
of the way the community has lived them. This interiorization of
the drama of Karbala> is powerfully expressed in the zlyiirah ritual.
Through this ritual the community renews its covenant with and
its loyalty to the imiims, and in a very personal way renews its own
participation in this drama. We shall end this chapter, therefore, with a
consideration of the z'iyiirah ritual: its major themes, its structure and
performance.
5.4 THE Ziyiirah RITUAL AND ITs PLACE IN Sht is a typical one. As it gained
significance for Sht<is more recently than did the ancient Ka<bah for
.Muslims or the holy house of Jerusalem, it was necessary first to
identify this new spot with earlier sacred places to give it equal
prominence and sanctity. This the imiims, or more probably their
followers after them, did with all the usual exaggeration of an apolo-
getic and persecuted community. )It would not be useful to consider
the traditions concerping the Karbala> piety chronologically because
we cannot discern any chronological development. We shall, there-
fore, examine a few of the traditions beginning with the more mod-
erate ones, and going on to those which are extreme.
The sixth Imiim, Ja<far, declared to the pilgrims that his great
grandfather's tomb, 'al-ghiit[iriyyah [i.e., the whole area ofKarbala> and
its environs] is of the earth of the Holy House (bayt al-maqdis)'. 91 The
The ziyiirah ritual and its place in ShPi piety 181
sacred house of the Ka 1bah is known as the ~aram, meaning the place
both of sanctity and safety. 92 In the previous chapter, Karbala> was
characterized as ~aram, in a statement that I:Iusayn made to the believ-
ers of the jinn who came to lend him support and destroy his
enemies. 03 His son, Zayn aVAbidin, not only affirms his father's
claim, but goes far beyond it. If the tradition we are about to quote is
genuinely his, then we can hardly speak of any development of the
Karbala> piety as such. 114 Rather{ the spot of the grave ofi:Iusayn began
to share in the Imiim 's sanctity almost immediately after his death. This
is probable because a strong emphasis on pilgrimage to Karbala 1
developed immediately and soon led the authorities to destroy the
tomb and forbid this pious act. The fourth Imiim told his followers
that:
God made the spot ofKarbala 1 a sacred and safe ~aram 24,000 years
before He created the earth of the Kalbah and made it a sacred and
secure ~aram. When, moreover, God [exalted be He] shall cause the
earth to quake and be melted, Karbala 1 shall be lifted up as it is,
luminous and pure, and placed in the highest of the gardens of
paradise. It shall be made the most exalted abode wherP.in only
prophets and apostles shall dwell. 95
Here the Imiim places Karbala> on an equal, if not higher, stage In
creation than the Ka 1bah and claims for it a primordial place, more
exalted than is usually accorded the ancient house of Mecca. He does
not stop there, however; rather, in the rest of his statement, he claims
that Karbala> shall be the resplendent star whose light shall dazzle the
eyes of all inhabitants of the earth. It shall cry out with rightful pride,
'... I am God's earth, sacred, pure and blessed, for in me is contained
the master of all the martyrs and 'master of the youths of paradise. ' 96
As usual, however, it is to tne sixth Imiim that we have to turn for the
most apocalyptic and polemical traditions. Unlike his grandfather,
who was satisfied with a high claim for Karbala> without challenging
the status of the Ka 1bah in Islam, Ja1far sharply contrasts the two spots
so that the Ka 1bah is all but damned by God himself. This tradition,
typical of so many attributed to him, displays all the marks of a
fantastic myth. The Imiim declared that when God created the Ka 1bah,
it waxed proud, saying, ' ... who is like me when God had built His
house upon me, and men flocked to me from every place, and God
made me His secure ~aram!' 97 But God commanded the spot of the
Ka<bah to be humble and silent before Karbala>, for its high favor,
compared to the latter, is no more than a needle dipped in the sea
which carries some of its water. Great favor has been bestowed oq
Karbala> because it contains the remains of the martyred Imiim. Thus
God continued:
... Had it not been for the sake ofhim whom the earth ofKarbala>
contains I would never have created thee or the house on which thou
pridest thysel Be quiet therefore and hold thy peace, be a humble
earth, meek and humiliated before the spot of Karbala>, or I will
cause thee to melt and be thrown into the fire of hell. 98
No doubt traditions like these drew, and still continue to draw, large
crowds of men and women to the holy shrine. In fact, at many points
in Muslim history, and especially in times of strife between Safavid
Iran and the Ottoman rulers, pilgrimage to the shrine ofKarbala> took
the place of the hajj. The sixth Imiim, who lived most of his life in
Medina, stopped at nothing to entice his followers to visit the tomb of
his martyred forebear. We shall discuss presently som~ of the great
rewards promised to those who undertake the journey to the banks of
the Euphrates, especially under perilous conditions.
It was not enough, however, to offer promises of future rewards;
rather, the sanctity ofKarbala> rendered its soil a source ofblessing and
healing in this life.' We are told that 'God recompensed l;Ius.ayn [for his
martyrdom] in that He rendered supplications answered at his shrine,
and the healing [of every disease] in the soil of his tomb. ' 99 Many
traditions enjoin the faithful to apply the .sacred soil to their sick
members, or to drink it mixed with water in case of an internal
ailment. The soil of Karbala> is potent in itself, hence the faithful
should keep it in a clean place, and recite praise to God and prayers
upon the Prophet and his family over it, lest the devil or other evil
spirits ofthejinn contaminate it. The sacred soil could lose its magical
healing power if not specially guarded and treated. 100
The sanctity ofKarbala' was declared by God himself through the
angel Gabriel to the Prophet; not only is its sacred character affirmed,
but the history of its shrine is foretold in the famous tradition to which
The ziyarah ritual and its place in Sh;<; piety 183
we have often referred in this study, attributed to 1All, son ofl:fusayn,

and reported on the authority of his aunt Zaynab. This tradition has
the prestige of being in some way a divine saying (~ad'ith quds'i);
moreover, it presents a complete Sh'N eschatological picture. We shall
quote at some length the portion dealing with l:fusayn and his shrine .
. . . And when this group of men [l:fusayn and his companions] will
have departed to their final resting places, God himself will
undertake the receiving of their souls with His own hand. Then will
descend from the seventh heaven multitti'des of angels with vessels
of emeralds and rubies filled with the waters of life, and paradisial
garments and perfumes. They will wash their corpses with that
water, dress them with those garments and embalm them with that
perfume. Then God shall send people of thy ummah [Mub.ammad's
community] whom the people of unbelief (kufr) will not know, and
who had not taken part in shedding the blood [of those men] in
word, thought or deed. They will bury those corpses and raise a sign
for the grave of the master of martyrs. It shall be a beacon for the
people of truth, and the means for the faithful (mu>minin) of final
victory, and the delight of angels. From every. heaven there will
come 100,000 angels every day and night, praying over him, and
circumambulating his shrine. They shall incessantly offer praise to
God at his grave, and beg forgiveness for his pilgrims. They will
record the names of those who will flock to him, those who seek by
this only nearness to God and to thee 0 Mu):lammad. 101
The fourth Imam goes on to relate the divine message regarding the
devotees who would flock in pilgrimage to the grave of his father.
Finally, returning again to the shrine ofKarbala 1, he continues'... and
there will be men on whom God's curse and wrath will surely fall,
who will strive to efface all traces of that grave, but God will not
permit them to accomplish their evil intent'. 102 It must be observed
that if, indeed, people like al-Mutawakkil did try to efface all traces of
the sacred .tomb, they could not efface them from the hearts of the
imams' followers.
The sacred tomb of the Imam in Karbala 1 h~s never been without its
crowds of pilgrims. Unlike the ~ajj which is limited to a special
session, the ziyiirah of Imam I:Iusayn is possible, and equally eff~ctive,
at any time and even at any place~ When the author visited the shrine in
May 1971, not during the special ziyarah season, the place thronged
with crowds of pilgrims from many lands. It is now, as it has always
been, a true house of tears and sighs to which the pious Shjfis bring
their joys and sorrows, to offer thanks to God and the Imam for their
successes and supplications for their hardships and pains. toa
We saw in Chapter 1 how predictions of the sufferings and perse-
cutions of the Holy Family were often set against the background of a
happy and intimate family gathering. It is probable, in our view, that
most such traditions are variations of the cloak (kisa>) incident; many
of them include it. In early tradition, the Prophet was in the house of
1Ali, sharing with its members the usual meagre meal. As in such tales
of dramatic contrast, the mood of the Apostle of God suddenly

changed from manifest pleasure to sorrow and tears. The dramatic
effect in this tradition seems to be quite consciously intended. No one
dared to ask the Prophet the reason for his weeping; but f:Iusayn, still a
young boy, jumped on his grandfather's lap and inquired about the
cause of his sorrow. The Prophet replied that Gabriel had come to
announce the calamities that were to befall the Holy Family, and thus
snatched away that brief moment of happiness. The main purpose of
this tradition is to accord prophetic sanction to the piJgrimage to the
shrine of Karbala> and to assure the faithful of great rewards for its
performance. Thus I:Iusayn asked:
... 0 father, what shall be the reward of those who visit our graves,
scattered as they will be in the earth? [The Prophet answered] These
will be men and women of my community who would make
pilgrimage to your grave seeking blessing by this act. It will be
incumbent upon me to seek them out on the Day of Resurrection
and save them from'the awful fears ofthat hour and from all their
transgressions: and God would cause them to dwell in paradise. 104
The ziyarah therefore may be regarded as an act of covenant renewal
between the Holy Family and their followers. This covenant, to be
sure, is a covenant oflove, sincere obedience and devotion on the part
of the community, and, on the part of the Holy Family, of returned
love, compassion and the promise of high rewards and intercession in
the world to come. ''l'his phenomenon in Islam is not totally unlike the
The z'iyarah ritual and its place in Shi<i piety 185
relationship we see between the community of ancient Israel and

Yahweh or between most of the ancient communities of the Near East
and their gods, for that matter.
We cannot enter any further into the interesting comparison of this
phenomenon in Islam with its ancient counterparts in Near Eastern
religious traditions. The ziyarah ritual, however, is integrated into the
history of the ancient prophets, and claimed as an emulation of a divine
act. We are told that a man went secretly one night to visit the tomb of
l:lusayn; he was met near the shrine by an angel in human form who
ordered him to wait until dawn because Moses, the prophet, had asked
permission from God to perform the sacred pilgrimage, and he, with a
retinue of70,000 angels, was spending the night at the Imam's tomb. 105
An even more interesting conneCJ:ion with the ancient prophets is
one established between the spot of the sacred grave and the birth of
Jesus. The Qur1an suggests that Mary, the mother ofJesus, fearing the
reaction of the people to her giving birth to a child out of wedlock,
took the newborn infant and retreated to a faraway place. ID6 1Ali, son
ofi:Iusayn, when asked concerning the location of her place of retreat,
answered, 'She set out from Damascus until she reached Karbala 1, and
there, on the spot ofJ:Iusayn's tomb, she left the child and returned on
the same night. ' 107 That this account," besides being quite fantastic,
could hardly agree with the Qur'anic story of the birth of]esus did not
seem to disturb the Imiim or whoever of his followers was responsible
for it. One reason for this connection between the ancient prophet and
the persecuted Imam may be that Jesus and his mother, according to
Islamic tradition, were suspected by their people, and thus were iQ
need of divine proof and vindication. They were, according to the
Qur1anic account, vindicated. Nonetheless, their situation was
analogous to that of the imams, whose authority and status were
questioned by the people, if not altogether rejected by the majority.
The vindication of the ancient prophet, therefore, is fittingly linked to
the tomb of the Imam who suffered the greatest wrong. The tradition
may also suggest that the favor of vindication was granted the ancient
prophet and his mother for the sake ofthe martyred Imam on the spot
of his burial.
One of the followers of the sixth Imam, Safw:in al-Jammal, on
whose authority some important zlyarah traditions were reported,
came one day to visit him apparently in Medina. Safwan, it seems,

lived in Iraq and paid his visit to the Imiim during the hajj season. The
sixth Imiim asked Safwan if he frequented the tomb ofJ::Iusayn, and he
answered affirmatively. Safwan asked in turn if the Imiim himself
visited the sacred shrine also. The sixth Imiim answered,
... How could I not visit it when God himself visits it every Friday
night. He descends to it with the angels, prophets and vicegerents.
He descends with Mubammad, the best of prophets and us, his
vicegerents, the best of vicegerents.
Safwan asked again in astonishment, 'Then you make a pilgrimage to
him [I::Iusayn] ... and thus achieve a pilgrimage to God himself.'
'Yes', said the lmiim, 'Hold fast to this and you will be accorded the
same merit as though you have performed this same pilgrimage, and
that is truly a favor, yes, truly a favor. ' 108 This interesting tradition
perhaps reaches the ultimate limit of anthropocentricism within
Islamic doctrine, but it is doubtful that it can be accepted at its face
value by most Muslims, including moderate Sht<is) It goes also as far as
it is possible to go in enticing pious Sht<is to sacrifice everything for the
great honor of the pilgtimag~. A tradition is often reported on the
authority of many of the imiims, with minor variations, that 'anyone
making pilgrimage to the tomb of J::lusayn acknowledging his right
[that is, to the imamate] would be as though he had made pilgrimage
to God on His throne'. 109 Modern editors of early sources reporting
this tradition go out of their way to try to explain it metaphorically.
Nonetheless, it is clear that it was important for the imiims themselves,
and certainly for the com~unity, to preserve the Mubarram cultus in
its entirety. To that end, neither the imiims nor their disciples spared
anything.
The highest reward promised those who frequent the tomb of
J::lusayn is declared to be the honor of being his close companion in
paradise. They will sit and converse with him under the divine throne;
this they will prefer to all the pleasure of paradise:
... they would be told 'Enter paradise,' but they would refuse ...
and the houris would send messengers to them saying 'come to us,
for we long for you as do the everlasting youths' (w.ildiin), 110 but
The ziyarah ritual and its place in Shr<; piety 187
they would not even raise their heads to listen to them because of the
great bliss and favor they shall experience in I;lusayn's company. 111
The tradition goes on to describe the terrible state of their enemies and
their great fear and torments on that day. Finally, it concludes with a
dramatic description of the great pomp with which I:Iusayn's com-
panions will be carried on splendid mounts to their mansions in
paradise. 112
These are but a few examples of the great rewards promised in
return for the sacred pilgrimage. We are further told that whoever
sp~nds ofhis wealth to make pilgrimage to I;lusayn will enter paradise
without reckoning. Any man who is beaten for making a pilgrimage
will be given for every strike a houri, and for any pain, a thousand
merits (hasanat). The man who is killed for his devotion to the Holy
Family and his determination to visit I;lusayn's grave is a true martyr.
Angels will clean his substance, literally clay ((inah ), until it is as pure as
the clay of the prophets. With the first drop of his blood, God will
forgive aU his sins. After his death, a door will open from his grave to
paradis~. through whiah its fragrance will blow to comfort him. He
will not experience thfl: reckoning and torment of the grave; on the
Day of Resurrection, he will be raised with the prophets; with them
and the angels he will be taken up to heaven to sing divine praises
before the throne ofmajesty. 113 In fact, iq the minds of the imams and
their immediate followers, such great merits are granted not so much
for the act of the pilgrimage itself, but more perhaps for the difficulties
Sh~i Muslims had to face in performing it. As we shall see presently
the ziyiirah can be brief, lasting no more than the few moments spent at
the sacred tomb, or it can be performed anywhere facing in its direc-
tion.
Before we describe a few ziyarah rituals, both at the tomb and
elsewhere, a word may be in order concerning the attitude of proper
reverence. 114\It has already been observed that the ziyiirah ritual may
be regarded as an act of covenant renewal between the pilgrims and the
imams. Furthermore, thr~ugh the ziyiirah, the pilgrim participates
directly in the sufferings and sorrows of the martyr of Karbala>: the
devotees emulate, as far as possible, the sufferings of their Imiim. Thus,
the sixth lmiim, al-Sadiq, enjoined his followers, 'If you wish to visit
the grave ofl:lusayn, do so in a state of sorrow and grief; be hungry

and thirsty, for I:Iusayn died sorrowful, hungry and thirsty.' 115 )
Another way in which this identification between the Imam and his
devotees may be seen is the special significance attributed to the
pilgrimage on the day of <Ashura>. The sixth Imam declared that:
Whoever spends the night of<Ashura> at the grave off:lusayn would
meet God on the Day of Resurrection, stained with his blood as
though he had fought with I:Iusayn on the plain of Karbala>. 116
In a similar tradition, the sixth Imam declares that such a devotee
would be stained not with his own blood, but rather with the blood of
I:Iusayn, and would be counted among those who were martyred with
him.tt7
In myth and ritual, time and space are treated as loci of the sacred.
Karbala> has it special significance in Sh'N piety because it is the locus of
the sacred remains of the Imam; similarly, the day of <Ashura> is
especially sacred because it is the locus, so to spea.k, of his sufferings.
Hence, performing the z'iyarah ritual in Karbala> on the day of <Ashura>
has great merit. )We shall now examine a few of the major themes of
the zlyiirah liturgy, and describe briefly its performance. In the appen-
dix to this chapter an important text of a ziyarah attributed to the
twelfth Imam, the Mahdi, will be discussed in some detail.
The shrine ofKarbala> is held by Sh; is at least as
meritorious as the obligatory hajj, the sacred pilgrimage to the Ka 1bah,
if not more so. To a certain man who' came on a pilgrimage to the
grave of I:Iusa yn fror:n far off Yemen for no reason but to visit the
sacred tomb and offer supplications to God, the sixth Imiim declared
that one pilgrimage to the tomb of I:Iusayn equals 30 pilgrimages in
the company of the Apostle of God, with all their rites of 1umrah, the
lesser pilgrimage. Thus his reward was equal to his unselfish devotion
to the wronged Imam. 11 H(The fifth Imam, al-Biiqir, was even more
generous than his son. He declared in a lopg dialogue with one ofhis
followers that one pilgrimage to Karbala> on the day of <Ashura> is
equal to a thousand thousand hajj pilgrimages and~an equal number of
engagements in the holy war with the prophets. 11 ~)
The z'iyiirah ritual and its~/ace in Shi<f piety 189
The man asked what he should do ifhe lived too far away to be able
to perform the zlyarah rites at the sacred shrine on the day of <Ashura 1
The Imam instructed him to perform the followingz'iyarah, one of the
earliest and most popular liturgical pieces of the ziyiirah literature. 120 A
man in a distant country should go to the wilderness, or up onto a high
roof in his own house; then turn his face toward Karbala.> and pro-
nounce many salutations of peace on the martyred Imiim and curses on
his murderers. He should then offer two prostrations of prayer (rak-
<ahs) in the middle of the day, after which he should hold a mourning
session (ma 1tam) in his house to which he should invite all his friends
and relatives. The attitude enjoined is one of total immersion in the
tragedy, as though it had just been witnessed by the participants. The
participants should offer each other condolences, saying, 'May God
grant us great rewards for our bereavement of f:iusayn, and count
us among those who will exact vengeance for his blood with His
friend (wall) the well guided (Mahdi) Imam of the family of
Mul}ammad. ' 121
The actual ziyarah petition (du<iiJ) then follows. It is an eloquent
confession of absolute loyalty to the imams and total disassociation
(barii 1ah) from their enemies. In this ziyiirah as in most others of the
same genre, we see a great display of emotions: love and hatred,
meekness and fervent hope are contrasted with violent and hostile
anger, frustration and impatient anticipation. The devotee's love for
and loyalty to the imiims is equalled by his hatred and hostility for their
enemies, the Umayyads and their agents. He is meek and sorrowful
for the sufferings of the Imiim and his companions, but flaming with
zeal to be in the victorious army oftheMahdi, to take part in avenging
l:lusayn's sacred blood. The text under discussion is a long repetition
of these themes. Here we quote only a few short passages, each
repeated a hundred times by the participants led by a chanter. A
trance-like state seizes the participants as they repeat over and over
again these invocations of curse and blessings, loyalty and hostility,
making this experience a powerful one:
... 0 God, curse him who usurped the rights of Mul}ammad and
the family ofMul}ammad and his supporters fom the first to the last
of them. 0 God, curse the group that gathered together for the
killing ofJ:Iusayn and pledged allegiance to his enemies to kill him

and his companions; 0 God, curse them all. 122
This outburst of condemnation is followed by an invocation of peace
and humble loyalty to the Imam, again repeated a hundred times.
Peace be upon you, 0 Abii 1Abdallah, and upon the spirits of those
who dwell in your spacious house.... From me to you is a salu-
tation of God's peace as long as I live and day and night follow one
another. May God not make this my last zlyarah to you. Peace be
upon J:Iusayn and upon 1Ali, son of I:Iusayn and upon the com-
panions ofi:Iusayn, on them all qe God's peace, prayers, and bles-
sings.123
The z'iyarah ends with a petition, uttered in prostration, for J:Iusayn's
intercession and praise to God.
This z'iyarah, simple only in its ritualistic structure, may be con-
trasted with others designed to be performed at the tomb itsel These
call for prostrations, genuflections and circumambulations of the
shrine. Most, if not all, such zlyarat share the same themes. First, the
salutation of peace to the Imam, his family and friends is pronounced,
followed by a profession of faith in walayah (spiritual and temporal
authority) of the imams, curses on their enemies, and finally an ex-
pression of the fervent hope of the devotees to be among those who
avenge the sacred blood of the martyrs with the Mahd'i. 124 We shall
analyze briefly one quite interesting z'iyarah of this genre which the
Imam al-Sadiq taught two of his prominent disciples, Yiinus and
al-Mufadc.lal.
The text under consideration is especially significant because it
expresses many of the themes of sorrow and revenge already discussed
in this and the previous chapters of this study. This z'iyarah introduces
the theme of the dependence of all things in creation on the existence of
the imams as well. After the pronouncements of peace on the martyrs
surrounding the Imam, the pilgrim addresses Imam I:Iusayn:
Peace be upon you, 0 martyr (qat'il) of God and son ofHis martyr
. . . the object of the vengeance (tha >r) ofGod and son ofHis tha >r, and
the one to be avenged by the inhabitants of the heavens <:!nd the
earth. I bear witness that your blood dwells in the abodes of eternity
The ziyiirah ritual and its place in Shi<'i piety 191
(khuld) and that for it the confines of the divine throne quaked, and
that it was mourned by all creatures. The seven heavens and seven
earths, and all th:;tt live in them, the inhabitants of paradise and hell,
and all things visible and invisible of God's creation wept for it. 125
The pilgrim declares himself to be a humble slave (1abd) of God and an
obedient servant (mawlii) of the Imam. The imams alone render possible
God's mercy and the reward of paradise; thus the pilgrim repeats three
times, 'Whoever wishes to approach God must begin with you [the
imams].' 126
It is a well known phenomenon in the history of religion that God
acts in nature and history through special persons on whom depend
the preservation of order and harmony in creation. The Logos of the
fourth Gospel, through which all things were made, may be taken as a
good example. The Prophet and his family come very close to occupy-
ing a similar exalted position for Sh,Ci Muslims. The pilgrim therefore
continues to emphasize the role the imams play in his salvation and, the
ongoing natural processes:
Through you [the imams] God causes falsehood to be exposed and
evil times to be taken away. Through you, God blots out what He
wills and establishes what He wills, and through you He removes
slavery and humiliation from our necks. Through you God takes
revenge for the blood of every believer [man and woman] that must
be exacted. Through you the earth brings forth its trees, and trees
bear their fruits. Through you the sky sends down its rain and
sustenance. Through you God takes away all sorrow and calamity
... through you the earth, which carries your bodies, glorifies God,
and through you its mountains are fixed in their places. 127
The ziyarah ends with the usual curses upon the murderers ofl:lusayn
and his companions, and salutations of peace upon him and his fellow
martyrs.
Another liturgical ziyiirah text which we shall briefly examine is one
of the oldest and perhaps one of the best examples ofliturgical prayers.
Unlike the ziyiirahs we have discussed so far, it has fewer invocatory
prayers and many more prayers of thanksgiving and profession of
faith in God, devotion to the imams and acceptance of their walayah.
The profession of faith is not limited to the shahadah, but includes the
affirmation of the reality or truth of death, the reckoning of the grave,
resurrection and final judgment.
After all this, the pilgrim addresses the Imiim and his companions
with salutations of peace, and affirms once more his unswerving
devotion to the Imam. He declares that the grave where he stands is the
grave of the beloved of Muhammad, who is the beloved ofGod; that
the Imam did truly struggle in the way of God in order to bring men
from darkness into light, from error and falsehood to the gate of true
guidance. Therefore, the pilgrim comes to reaffirm his covenant with
the Imam and express disapprobation ofthe/mam's enemies, whom he
curses in long and eloquent imprecations.
Finally, the pilgrim affirms the continuity of the imams with the
prophets by stating, after the invocation of peace, that the Imam is the
heir of Adam, the pure one (s,afwah) of God, of Noah the prophet of
God, of Moses, the interlocutor of God, ofjesus, the spirit of God, of
Mubammad, the beloved ofGod, and the two previous/miims, <Ali, his
father, and I:Iasan, his brother. The pilgrim attests that the Imam is the
great light guiding to the right way.
. . . You are a light in the exalted loins [of prophets], a light in the
darkness of the earth, a light in the air, and a light in the heavens on
high. In all these you were a light that would never be extinguished,
and the one whose speech is the word of truth and guidance. 128
The text under consideration provides one of the longest and most
complete zfyarahs. The pilgrim is reminded of all the ideas and events
surrounding Karbalal and the hopes of vindication which bind him to
the imams. The text displays great eloquence and imagination, and
even a spontaneous lack of systematization characteristic of the best
liturgical literature.
Since our concern in this chapter has been the remembrance oflmam
I;Iusayn and his special place in Shti piety, we have limited ourselves
to his zlyarah to the exclusion of those of the other imams. There are,
however, zlyarahs for each of the imams individually and for all of them
collectively as well. One collective ziyarah deserves a few remarks on
account of the ideas it expresses about the relationship of the imams to
God on the one hand, and to the community on the other. The text of
The zlyarah ritual and its place in Shi<'ipiety 193
this z'iyarah is attributed to the eighth Imam, al-Ri<;ia. The zlyarah

begins as usual with invocations of peace on the imiims, but does not
mention their names until nearly the end of the text. It begins:
Peace upon them who are the locus of the knowledge of God. Peace
upon them who are the dwelling place of the remembrance (dhikr)
of God. Peace upon them who are the manifestation of God's
command (amr) and His prohibition (nah'i). Peace upon them: who-
ever accepts their authority (waliiyah) would have accepted God's
authority, and whoever shows hostility to them would have shown
hostility to God. Peace upm~ them; whoever knows them would
have known God, and whoever acknowledges them not would
have denied God. Peace be upon them; whoever seeks protection
(i<tas,ama) in them would have sought protection in God and whoever
abandons them would have abandoned God. 129
Having affirmed faith in the imiims and their status with God, the
pilgrim then goes on to affirm his loyalty to them and calls to witness
the sincerity of his devotion.
I call God to witness that I am peace (silm) to him who peacefully
submits to you, and war to him who wars against you. I believe in
all your secret and open manifestations, and delegate to you all my
affairs. 130
The ziyarah ends with the usual curses on the enemies of the imams and
prayers upon the Prophet and the imams, naming them individually.
This last zlyarah text suggests strongly, especially in the original
Arabic, the absolute loyalty of the community to the imams, a loyalty
not only spiritual but also political. The words, 'I am peace to him who
peacefully submits to you and war to him who wars against you (ana
silmun li-man salamakum wa-harbun li-man hiirabakum)' are not meam
metaphorically, but concretely. This affirmation of allegiance, the
bay<ah to the imams, has its own special z'iyarah. We shall end this
chapter with a brief discussion of an interesting zfyarah, known as
ziyiirat al-mus,iifaqah, the giving of the baycah; and with a prayer of the
sixth Imam affirming this sacred pact with the community of the
faithful.
The ziyarah we are about to discuss, of unknown authorship, was
copied by al-Majlis'i from an oldziyarah collection whose author is not

identified. 1:s 1 The Arabic word mu~ijaqah comes from the root ~afaqa,
meaning to strike one's hand on that of another in accepting an
agreement or pact. It is also used to signify the conclusion of a pact of
allegiance (baylah) between an individual and a leader. It, tJ"lerefore
presupposes the actual presence of the two parties to the pact. It is
important to keep this in mind, because the imams, for the Shi<i
community, are not simply persons no longer present; they are seen to
be omnipresent in the community, hearing the petitions of its mem-
bers and demanding their unbroken allegiance, love and loyalty.
Appropriately, therefore, this ziyarah is to be performed at the grave
of Imam l:lusayn, that is, at the spot where his concrete presence is
presupposed.
For the most part, the text speaks for itself; thus we shall quote it at
some length. By way of initial greeting and paying of respect, the
pilgrim begins with these words:
I come, 0 my master, to you a pilgrim offering my salutation of
peace upon you. I come seeking refuge in you and fleeing to you. I
come to renew my covenant and my bay<ah to which God had
bound my neck. It is the covenant and pledge of acceptance,
demanded of me by God, of your walayah and dissociation from all
your enemies. I come affirming and confessing anew that obedience
which God had made obligatory upon all men. 1:12
The pilgrim is then to place his right hand on the tomb in the manner
of a man offering the bay<ah and to address the Imam, saying:
Here is my hand spread out (mu~afiqah) to you in bay<ah ... accept
therefore this of me, 0 my Imam. For I come to you cognizant of
what God has made obligatory upon us of rendering support
(nu~rah) to you. 133
If the devotee sincerely pleges a renewal ofhis covenant, then he may be

assured of the Imam's adherence to his own side of the covenant This
assurance is declared by the pilgrim on behalfof the Imam in the words:
... 0 my master and Imam ... I bear witness that you have kept
your covenant ... as you have promised him who comes to you as a
pilgrim to fulfill all that which he hopes for of your goodness.
The zlyiirah ritual and its place in Sht<l piety 195
To you I have come from my country placing on you my reliance

before God. Fulfill therefore my hope in you. 134
The pilgrim ends with a petition (du<a>) that he may be included in the
company of the Holy Family in this world and in the world to come.
It was suggested above that the zlyiirah pilgrimage to the tomb of
Imam }:Iusayn often entailed many hardships for the pilgrims. It must
be added here that the imams were cognizant of this fact, as well as of
the general disadvantage their followers had to face as a small minority
in the Muslim community. The sixth Imam lifted up his hands one day
to heaven, and in tears prayed:
0 God these [the ShNs] are but a small group of people. Make
therefore our life their life and our death their death. Do not set over
them an enemy of Thine that Thou mayest not bereave us of them.
For if Thou wouldst bereave us of them, Thou wouldst never be
truly worshipped in Thine earth. 135
More moving still is the Imam's prayer for the pilgrims to the tomb of
his grandfather, the wronged martyr. In this prayer we see a grateful
recognition by the Imam of the sacrifice and devotion of his pious
followers as he poured out his heart before God on their behal In a
way this prayer may be regarded as an intercessory petition similar to
the prayer of Christ for his disciples before his passion, as reported in
the fourth Gospel. 136 Yet unlike Christ's prayer, the prayer of the Imam
retains all the Islamic elements of the zlyiirah tradition of which it is a
part.
Mu<awiyah Ibn Wahb, one of the sixth Imam's close disciples,
entered the Jmiim's house one day and found him on his prayer rug,
uttering the following invocation after his prayers:
0 God, Thou who hast chosen us for Thy special favor, promised us
the giftofintercession, granted us the vicegerency (wa~lyyah), given
us the knowledge of what is past and what is to come and caused the
hearts of men to incline towards us, forgive me and my brethren.
Forgive the pilgrims to the grave of my grandfather }:Iusayn, those
who have spent their wealth in their desire to show their loyalty to
us, and in hope for that which Thou, for our sake, hast in store for
them. This they did for the joy they would bring to the heart ofThy
Prophet, wishing only to obey our command and thus bring anger
and fury to the hearts of our enemies. In all this they wish only Thy
good pleasure. Reward them therefore with Thy pleasure in them.
Protect them in the night and day, and reward well their families
and children whom they have left behind. Go with them and protect
them against the evil of every powerful and weak man among Thy
creatures and the evil of the satans of men andjinn. Grant all that
which they had desired of Thee in their sojourn away from their
homes. Reward them for all that they have sacrificed for us over the
needs of their own children. 0 God, our enemies have taunted them
for coming to us, but that did not deter them from seeking us in
opposition to our enemies. Be merciful, 0 God, towards those faces
which were discolored by the heat of the sun. Be merciful towards
those cheeks which are pressed to the tomb of Abu <Abdallah
al-I:Iusayn and towards those eyes whose tears have run down in
compassion for us. Have mercy, 0 God, for those hearts that have
grieved for us. 0 God, into Thy hands I commend these bodies and
souls until they shall be gathered at the pool (al-hawq) on the day of
the great thirst. 137
To this goal, the happy reunion of the imams and their followers at the
source of life-giving water, we shall now turn.
6
At the Pool of al-Kawthar

<Afa-I-fawq al-Kawthar 1
Suffering, whatever its nature may be, can lead to the annihilation,
both physical and spiritual, of the sufferer. But we have argued that
ultimate victory over evil, suffering and death, can be achieved only
through suffering and death. 2 In fact, where redemption is the primary
goal of the life of a religious community, it is accepted as a divine gift
of eternal life granted through death. The Christian case is one of the
most powerful examples of this phenomenon in human history. We
would like to argue that this quest for salvation, in different forms to
be sure, plays a major role in the religious life of the Jthnii 1ashari Sh;ti
community.
It will be our task in this chapter to emphasize this claim by show-
ing, in a very direct way, how the sufferings of the Holy Family of
Mubammad are linked to the high status of its members on the Day
of judgment and the salvation of their devotees. We shall attempt to
show further that while the Christian concept or concepts of redemp-
tion remain fully Christian and thus non-Islamic and more specifically
non-ShN concepts, there is much that is common to the two religious
traditions in this respect. Indeed, Shr'i eschatology, while remaining
within the Islamic framework, resembles the eschatology of post-.
biblical Judaism and of the early Christian church. Although the
concept of redemption in ShN piety is always presented within the
context of intercession (shafo 1ah), in actual fact it goes beyond the
accepted traditional Islamic understanding of this concept. We shall
keep our discussion within the context of intercession, indicating
those elements in the Shi1i concept of redemption which go beyond
the limits of intercession.
We shall, in this chapter, investigate the intercessory prerogative of
the Prophet and his descendants, the imams. This divine favor is a
direct reward for their endurance of suffering, privation and death.
This favor will be manifested to the entire creation in the exalted
station of the imams before the throne of God. As they were here on
198 At the pool of al-kawthar
earth 'the weak ones (al-mustacf<afonfi al-arcf)',:1 so on the last day they
will share in the sovereignty of God over His creation. We shall next
discuss the symbol of this authority of the Prophet and his descen-
dants: hawcf al-kawthar, source of eternal life and relief from hardships
on the Day of Resurrection.
It has been argued in this study that the faithful followers (Shrah) of
the imams share fully in their sufferings and sorrows. Consequently,
they will share also in acts of redemption, healing and judgment. This
prerogative of redemption and judgment will be granted by God to
Fitimah, the mother of the sorrowful imams and mistress of the House
of Sorrows, and by her to the devotees of her descendants. Our next
point of consideration, therefore, will be Fatimah's intercessory role
on the Day of judgment, effecting a final vindication for herself, her
descendants and their followers.
Finally we shall see that absolute vengeance and fulfillment of all the
spiritual and temporal hopes of the ShN community are embodied in
the twelfth Imam, the Mahd'i. He shall come as the final executor of
God's judgm.ent and His proof over His creation. The Mahd'i's return
(ra/ah) will be our final point of investigation.
6.1 INTERCESSION: THE REWARD OF SUFFERING
The imams, as we have seen throughout tqis study, were from the
beginning destined by God to drain the cup of suffering and mar-
tyrdom and to play a decisive role in human salvation and judgment.
To a large extent, the intercessory prerogative of the imams is depen-
dent upon their patient endurance of privation, rejection and perse-
cution. Indeed, ShN piety has insisted, in many cases with little or no
evidence,-that all the imams were martyred. In this way they all share
directly in the martyrdom of Karbalal, in its sufferings as well as its
rewards.
We saw in Chapter 2 that God offered the walayah (spiritual and
temporal authority) of the imams to the entire creation as the priqJ.or-
dial divine trust (amiinah). He had already decreed, however, who
among men would freely accept this divine trust and who would as
freely reject it. By this de~ree humanity was marked, some for eternal
Intercession: the reward of suffering 199
bliss and others for eternal torment. Thus we are told that the imiims
possessed a special heavenly writ (~ahifah) containing the names both
of their followers and their enemies until the Day of Resurrection. 4
The problem ofhuman freedom and divine sovereignty and will is
as complex a theological issue in Islam as it is in Christianity. While
both the broad emphasis and the more basic theological orientation are
quite different in the two traditions, the Sh"fi view is closer to the
Christian position than it is to the strict Sunni Islamic view. God wills,
knows and decrees; yet man is still responsible for his choice, a choice
which confronts him at every moment, as the earth would never be
void of a proof or witness (hujjah) of God over His servants5 both to
judge and to redeem them. The proximity of the Sh;li view to that of
Christianity is perhaps due to the fact that both accept a mediator
between man and God, one whose essential being and place in human
history plays a determining role in the divine plan for creation, reve-
lation and salvation. Thus we must agree with Henri Corbin that Shr<i"
imamology is a kind of 'Islamic christology'. 6 In Christian piety,
Christ is the eternal Logos, the divine Word; the agent of creation on
the one hand, and on the other hand the slain lamb standing before the
throne of majesty both to save and to judge. Theimiims,likewise, are at
one and the same time the ,pivot of creation and reason for its sub-
sistence, and the blood-stained martyrs whose death is a point of
contention between God and their persecutors. 7
The close connections between the sufferings of the Holy Family
and the divip.e favor or intercession are presented in a tradition report-
ing a dialogue between God and the Prophet, on the night o( the
Prophet's heavenly journey (mi<raj). The Prophet, we read, was told
by God, 'Thy Lord wishes to try thee with three things to test thy
patience.' The Prophet assented, praying for patience and endurance;
the first trial was hunger and privation, as he was to give all that he
possessed to the poor. N The second trial was the persecution and
calumnies which Mubammad had to suffer at the hands of the hypo-
crites and the wounds inflicted upon him. The third trial was the
persecution and wrong his family was destined to suffer after him. The
details of this calamity have already been discussed in Chapter 1, when
we considered those portions of the famous tradition of<Ali, son of
f;:lusayn, and others dealing with the insults, wrongs, and physical
violence which Fatimah suffered; violence which is said to have caused

her to lose her child. We also observed the treachery, opposition and
finally martyrdom which <Ali suffered at the hands ofhis enemies. The
heavenly voice described the death ofl:lasan and l:ll!sayn; to all this the
Prophet assented, submitting his will to the divilic decree as he re-
peated, 'To God do we belong and to Him we shall return. ' 9
It may be inferred that the persecutions and wrongs which the
family of the Prophet Mubammad had to suffer were due to the
wickedness and folly of men. They were allowed by God to take place,
however, in order to manifest the right over the wrong and thus
establish His contention (hujjah) against evil men. An interesting point
of comparison can be made with the biblical assertion that God
hardened Pharaoh's heart in order that he and his people might deserve
the punishment of the ten plagues. 10
The death ofl:lusayn was especially decreed by God to consummate
the divine plan, not only for human history here on earth, but also for
the world to come. Thus the heavenly voice continued concerning
I:Iusayn:
... he would beg for my assistance, but my decree had already
predestined him and those with him for martyrdom. For his death
shall be my contention [or argument (hujjah)] against the inhabit-
ants of the earth. 11
The judgment of this divine contef?.tion will be executed by the ninth
descendant of the martyred Imam, the Mahdl, one of whose epithets is
hujjat Allah (the proof, witness or contention ofGod). 12 The tradition
goes on:
Then will I [God] bring out ofhis [I:Iusayn's] loins a male descen-
dant whom I shall grant victory and vengeance for J:Iusayn. He shall
fill the earth with justice and rule it with equity. Great fear will come
over all men during his time. He shall kill so many, that people
would doubt him [believing hir:n an oppressor]. 13
We shall return to the role of the Mahdl later.
Trials a.nd tribulations were decreed for the family of Mubammad,
but so was a promise ofhigh rewards on the last day. <Ali is to have the
gardens of paradise for an inheritance. To him will be given control
over the hawq al-kawthar, to give its waters to his friends (awtiyal), to
drink and to turn his enemies away thirsty. The fires of hell will be
turned into 'coolness and peace' for him; 14 he shall enter and release
anyone in whose heart is the weight of an atom oflove forahl-al-bayt.
According to a very early traditio11, reported even in Shfi sources on
the authority of<Abdallah, son of<umar b. al-Khanab, who heard it
from his father, the Prophet said:
When the Day ofResurrection shall come, the throne of God will be
adorned with every beautiful ornament. There will be brought two
platforms oflight, the length of each being 100 miles, and placed one
on the right and the other on the left of the throne. I:Iasan and
I:lusayn will be seated each on one of them, thus they will adorn the
throne of God as would two earrings adorn the face of a woman. 15
Moreover, as a reward for what the two imams had suffered in this
world, they will have favors beyond the imagination of the hearts of
men. Again, we see the familiar contrast between the sad plight of the
imams here on earth and their exalted status with God in heaven. Yet,
like Christ, who will display his wounds of suffering and death on the
day of final reckoning, crowned with the crown of glory and power,
so Imam I:Iusayn will still appear as a bo~y without a head. 16
The exalted status of the imams in the wodd to come is always linked
with the rewards promised to their followers for their own sufferings
and endurance for the imiims' sake. This total vindication and exal-
tation of the imams provides a sense of security and even exultation for
the pious Shi"is. More concretely still, it strengthens their hope for a
blessed existence, as it promises restoration and healing ~fter the
period of struggle, persecution and the despair of failure.
If the twelfth Imam symbolizes for the ShN community the tem-
poral power, success and conquest which neither the imams nor their
followers have enjoyed in this world, <Ali Ibn Abi Talib, the first
Imam, embodies spiritual hopes, or rather hopes belonging to the
hereafter, hopes of vindication and the infinite pleasure of paradise. In
the construction of traditions depicting the majesty and power of the
Prince of the Faithful, pious imagination has displayed great eloquence
and artistic fantasy. The magnetism of the personality of<AJi has even
attracted people from outside the Shici community. Al-Khawarizmi
reports a tradition attributed to the Prophet which places (Ali not far
below the throne of God:
When the Day of Resurrection comes, (Ali shall sit on al-Firdaws,
which is a mountain higher than the entire paradise ljannah). On its
top is the throne of light, and before him flowing the waters of
Tasnim. 17 No one will be able to pass over the~irii( 1 H except ifhe had
accepted his authority (waliiyah) and that of his descendants. (Ali
will then stand over the ~irii( causing those who love him to enter
paradise and those who hate him to be consigned to hell. 19
This passage exemplifies a technique typical in ShN tradition: obscure

words which have come into the Arabic language, whether from
oriental or ancient western languages, are concretized and used to
convey an aspect of mystery and myth beyopd their generally
accepted meaning. Firdaws, for example, which means 'paradise',
becomes a specific place in paradise with a special significance. This
imaginative use of words at times is even applied to simple Arabic
words. In most cases such a word would serve as the basis of a story
conveying some special aspect of mystery, hagiography or some par-
ticular eschatological idea. The tradition we are about to consider dis-
plays all these elements, expressed in an interesting and romantic way.
(Ali and the Prophet are introduced as unknown people into the
heavenly court on the Day of Judgment; they themselves appear as
uninformed guests, so to speak, wondering at the things they see, and
in turn evoking astonishment and admiration among angels and
prophets. Like many traditions of this genre, the story ignores the
publicly recognized and acclaimed presence of the two great per-
sonalities, Mul;tammad and (Ali, displayed in other traditions. Their
absence, however, is only a dramatic device to introduce the Prophet
and his beloved cousin and son-in-law, and to stress their glorious
personalities. Ijadith al-was'ilah, 20 as this tradition is called, was related
on the authority of the famous companion, Abii Sa rid al-Khudri. The
Apostle of God said:
If you wish to invoke God, invoke Him through my wasilah. He
was asked, '0 Apostle of God what is the wasilah?' And he
answered, 'It is my station in paradise. It has a thousand steps, the
distance between each step would take a thoroughbred horse a

month to gallop. . . . It will be made of every kind of precious
stone.... It will be erected on the Day of Resurrection among the
stations of the prophets shining like the resplendent moon among
the stars. There will not be on that day a prophet, veracious man
(~iddfq) or martyr, but that they would exclaim "Blessed is he whose
station this is." Then will the proclamation proceed from the pre-
sence of God for all men and angels to hear: "This is the station of
Mubammad." '
The tradition goes on, with all the realism of an actual life situation, to
describe the Prophet coming clad in new and shining garments with
cAn before him. The latter will carry the standard of Mubammad, the
standard of exaltation (hamd) on which will be inscribed 'There is no
God but God, those of good fortune (al-muflihiin) will be rendered
victorious by God.' The angels will gaze at them, thinking them to be
two noble and highly favored prophets. Prophets will marvel, think-
ing them to be two archangels near the divine throne. Then Mubam-
mad will ascend to the top of that station, with cAli only a step below
him. The divine voice will again announce, 'This is my beloved
Mubammad, and that is my friend (waif) cAll. Blessed are they who
love him and woe to them who have hated and calumniated him.'
Thus those who loved cAll in this world will rejoice and those who
hated him will grieve. RiQwan (the keeper of paradise) and Malik (the
keeper ofhell) will come to the Prophet and deliver into his hands the
keys of paradise and hell. The Prophet will give them to (Ali, who wi11
then permit whomsoever he wishes to enter paradise and whom-
soever he wishes to enter the fire. In this mood of exultation, the
tradition concludes, '... And hell shall be on that day more obedient
to CAli than a young servant (ghuliim) would be to his master. ' 21
The iptercessory character of this tradition is obvious. It is, how-
ever, interesting to note the similarity in this tradition between cAn,
the vicegerent and successor of Mubammad, and Simon Peter, the
prince of the apostles and keeper of the keys of the kingdom. In the
Shtll doctrine of the imamate-succession, Saint Peter (Sham<un al-s.afo)
is declared to be a prophet. 22 The equality of status between the
Prophet Mul;tammad and his vicegerent on the last day, however, goes
beyond the depiction of the relationship between Saint Peter and

Christ on the Day ofJudgment. Inhadfth al-wasllah, as in other similar
traditions, <AJi is especially shown as not simply an intercessor, one
who pleads with God on behalf ofhis followers, but further as a judge
with all the divine powers of 'loosing and binding'.
While <Ali shares in the sufferings and martyrdom of the imiims, and
hence in their rewards of intercession on the last day, his authority
rests more on his own special status as 'the brother' 2a and vicegerent
(wa~i) of the Prophet. It is therefore more accurate to say that the other
imiims and members of the Holy Family share in his great authority,
because they share in the clear appointment ofhim and his descendants
as the rightful leaders (imiims) of the community.
The community of devotees of the imiims will share as directly in
their prerogatives of intercession as they do in their sufferings. More
specifically, the community will share in the reward of redemption for
suffering promised to the martyred Imiim I:Iusayn. An early tradition
clearly expresses this idea, reporting one of the many announcements
given by the angels to the Prophet ofhis grandson's impending death.
Umm Salamah, in whose house such angelic visits were supposed to
have taken place, exclaimed as she heard the sad prediction, '0 Apostle
of God ask God to spare him that [i.e., painful death].' He answered,
I did, but God revealed to me that he [I:Iusayn] shall have a high
degree [in paradise] unattained by any other of God's creatures. He
shall have a group of followers (Shl<ah) who will intercede and their
intercession will be accepted. . . . Blessed are those who will be
among the friends (awliyii>) ofl:lusayn and his followers (Shl<ah ). By
God they will be triumphant ifa>iziin) on the Day ofResurrection. 24
We saw in our discussion of the zlyiirah of the covenant (mu~iifaqah)
that the imiims are omnipresent, ready to hear the supplications of their
devotees and to intercede with God on their behal They are, we are
told, like the sun whose warm rays and brilliant light shines over the
world giving it light and guidance. During their lives, the imiims may
be likened to the sun in its full splendor, unveiled by douds. After their
death, regarded only as a period of occultation (ghayhah ), they are like
the sun shining through the clouds, a light hidden by a veil (hijiih ). Yet
the sun behind the clouds loses nothing of its power or brilliance; on
The day of the great thirst 205
the contrary, it becomes ~ore accessible to the weak sight of men

whose eyes would burn out if they were to look at the naked sun. 25
The imams know all the details of the lives of their followers. This is
asserted in a tradition interpreting the Qur>anic verse, 'Act, for God
shall see your actions and His Apostle and the believers.' 26 A man
asked the eighth Imam, al-Ri<;la, to pray for him; the latter aqswered,
'How could I not do so when all your deeds are brought before me
every day and night.' Then he repeated the above quoted verse in
proof ofhis claim. 27 The seventh Imam, Miisa al-Ki?im, once declared,
'God became wrathful with theSht<ah, so he made me choose between
them or myself and I shielded them, by God, with my soul. ' 28 This
hadlth is included in the chapter ofKitab al-Ijujjah asserting the know-
ledge of the imams of all events before they take place. The Arabic
word waqa means 'to protect against something'; thus the Imam
allowed the wrath of God to fall upon him rather than his followers.
Unfortunately, this tradition alone clearly expresses an unequivocal
idea of redemption; but the idea is, in our view, implied in much of the
literature we have been considering in this chapter.
6.2 THE DAY Of THE GREAT THIRST
The pool of al-kawthar is a concrete symbol of the rewards and favors

of the Holy Family and the final vindication of their sufferings: hawq
al-kawthar is, therefore, the antithesis of the House of Sorrows. Its
waters will wash away the blood and tears of the martyrs, not only of
the Holy Family, but of all who died in the way ofT ruth or chose to be
included in the House of Sorrows during their earthly sojourn. Before
we examine the role of the Prophet and his son-in-law, the Prince of
the Faithful, as the masters of this paradisial spring, we shall cite at
some length an interesting tradition which describes the pool in
dramatic and vivid language.
Many of the traditions cited in the previous chapter connected with
the pilgrimage to the tomb of f:lusayn aimed at enticing the pious
followers of the imams by promising them unimagined pleasures in
paradise as i reward for their effort. The tradition we are about to
discuss also promises fantastic pleasures to those who perform the
holy pilgrimage or to those who may not be able to make the pil-
grimage but still wish to do so in sad remembrance of the martyr of
Karbala>. In a long dialogue between the sixth Imam, Ja<far al-Sadiq,
and Masma<, apparently a prominent man in the service of the <Ab-
basid authorities and a pious follower of the Imam, al-Sadiq asked if
Masma< frequented the tomb of l;:lusayn. Masma< answered that he
was a well-known man, so he feared the reprisals of the authorities. He
did, however, remember the Imam's martyrdom and grieved for him,
so that his sorrow was clearly seen on his face. The Imam told him that
his tears would be well rewarded on the Day ofResurrection, when he
should see the imams at the hawq and his joy would have no end. Like
all things in creation, the hawq is not simply a spring of water, but a
living personality with human feelings and human emotions. Thus the
Imam first asserted that '... al-kawthar will rejoice at a person who
loves us as he approaches it, that it would give him to taste of such
great foods that he would wish never to leave it'. 29 Although thehawq
is a spring of water, here we see it as a source oflife-giving substance,
of both food and drink. The Imam continued his vivid account by
asserting that whosoever drinks from its waters will never thirst again
for all eternity. Then describing the hawq itself, the Imam went on:
... In coolness, it is like camphor (kiifor); its fragrance is that of
musk and its taste is that of ginger (zanjabil), sweeter than honey,
softer than butter, and clearer than tears.... It springs out of
Tasnim30 and flows through the rivers of the gardens over a bed of
rubies. It contains goblets as numerous as the stars of heaven. Its
fragrance may be smelled from a distance of a thousand years'
journey. Its goblets arc of gold and silver and all kinds of precious
stones. From it emanate so many sweet odors in the face of one
drinking from it, that such a person would exclaim 'Would that I be
left here forever, for I desire no substitute for this. ' 31
The Imam then reassured his friend that he would be among those who
would drink from the hawq. The rest of the tradition describes <AJi
standing at the hawq, giving his friends to drink of its waters and
turning his enemies away thirsty. ,
The doctrine of salvation through faith rather than works is a
familiar one, both in Christianity and in other religious traditions. In
Christianity, the insistence ofSt. Paul on this idea and, centuries later,
of Martin Luther, are cases in point. With even greater popular pietis-
tic fervor, the same idea was expressed in Japanese Buddhism in the
N ambutsu formula of faith in the Amid a Buddha. 32 Islam for the most
part places an equal emphasis on works and faith. Faith (iman), in the
view of many Muslim theologians, is both an acceptance of the heart
and an action of the limbs.a3 Shiel piety shifted the emphasis greatly to
the side of the heart's acceptance.
Many of the traditions under consideration likewise equate love for
the Holy Family with faith in God and hatred towards unbelief
(kufr). 34 Acceptance of the walayah of the imams is part of faith in the
divine oneness, and rejection of it is as grave a sin as associating other
gods with Allah. All other sins may be forgiven through the inter-
cession of the imams; in fact, the imams, and I;:Iusayn in particular, are
the intercessors for all sinners in the Muslim community who accept
their walayah and share their sufferings.
In a tradition35 describing the events of the Day of Judgment, the
entire human race will be brought together for the final reckoning.
Men will stand barefoot and naked under the burning sun of the desert
at the gathering place (mahshar). They will remain standing until their
sweat will flow in streams, unable to breath from fatigue and thirst.
Finally, a voice will call out from the divine throne, 'Where is the
prophet of the gentiles, or unlettered prophet (al-nabl al-umml)! ...
Where is the prophet of mercy, Mubammad, son of<Abdallah!' The
Prophet will come forward, preceding all, until he stands at the hawcf
whose length equals the distance between Yemen and Damascus. <An
wi11 also be summoned to stand with the Prophet at that great hawq.
All men will pass before him and will be given to drink and many will
be turned away.
The fifth Imam went on to say that when the Prophet sees that
among those turned away from the haw4 ate some who love ahl
al-bayt, he will weep and exclaim, '0 Lord, the Sh,Cah of< Ali:, the Sh,Cah
of< Ali'. God will then send an angel to ask why he was weeping and
the Prophet will reply:
'How could I not weep when I see men oftheShi<ah of my brother

<Ali, son of Abi Talib, turned away towards the people of the fire
and prevented from drinking of my haw4!' Then God would say to

him '0 Mubammad, I have given them to thee and have forgiven all
their sins. They shall be with thee and with those whose authority
(walayah) they have accepted. They shall inherit thy haw4, for I have
accepted thy intercession for them and have favored them for thy
sake.' 36
In this tradition, we see the Prophet interceding for the sinners of the
community (Shi<ah) of <Ali. Many' traditions, however, depict <Ali
playing not simply the role of intercessor, but also that of a harsh
judge. In such traditions we can discern all the bitterness, revengeful
hatred and frustration of which a persecuted community is capable.
This sublimation of political frustration and failure has found its
perfect embodiment in the True Prince of the Faithful, <Ali, son of Abi
Tali b. In him the community has found its ideal of power and political
excellence and all the virtues of a hero. We shall end this section with
an account of the Prince of the Faithful at the paradisial haw4, driving
his enemies away with the rod of absolute authority and vengeance.
More than most other traditions of its genre, the dialogue of the
sixth Imiim, Abu <Abdallah al-Sadiq, with Masma< displays gloating
pleasure at the punishment, torment and remorse which the enemies
of the Holy Family are to suffer in the world to come. The closest
parallel to this tradition in the Christian scriptures is the gory images
presented by the writer of the Apocalypse of John. In fact, a com-
parison between the traditions we are investigating and the Book of
R.cvelations would be highly instructive.
It seems that whatever the essential message of a religious tradition
may be, the community living by this message must find a way to
strengthen the hope and confidence necessary for its members to
endure the hardships and persecutions of a small religio-political
minority. The community, therefore, finds its ultimate consolation
not only in the rewards of bliss for its persecution but also in the
eternal damnation of its persecutors. As the events of both the
Apocalypse ofJohn and the eschatological traditions attributed to the
twelver Sh;<; imams are supposed to take place outside the present
existence, when neither remorse nor repentance shall avail, judgment
and salvation go hand in hand. This characteristic exultation in both
the merciless judgment of God and the tender, sentimental exuberance

of the faithful in the bliss to come seems to be common to the
apocalyptic literature of the Judaeo-Christian-Islamic tradition. We
shall have a little more to say on this point before the close of this
discussion.
The long and graphic description ofhawq al-kawthar aims at kind-
ling the longing of the faithful for the great bliss awaiting them as well
as their zeal for the cause of the martyred Imam l:Iusayn and his
persecuted descendants. The sixth Imam, therefore, asserts that all eyes
that shed tears for the Holy Family would be blessed with the sight of
al-kawthar; and that the greater the love a devotee would show for ahl
al-bayt, the greater and more intense would be his pleasure at thehawq.
Finally, at some length, the Imam describes his worthy forebear, (Ali,
exercising control over the great haw4:
At al-kawthar shall stand the Prince of the Faithful with a stick of
thorns (awsaj) in his hand with which he would destroy our
enemies. Then the enemy will plead, saying, 'But I do profess the
two shahadas'; <Ali will answer, 'Go to your Imam julan [omitting
the name, but intending Abii Bakr or (Umar] and ask him to
intercede for you.' The man will reply, 'My Imam whom you
mention has disowned (taharra>a) me.' But (Ali will reply, 'Turn
back and ask him whom you have accepted as your master (wall)
and preferred him over all other creatures; if he is indeed the best of
men, ask him to intercede for you; for the best of men is he who can
intercede.' The man will plead, 'I am perishing of thirst!' But (Ali
will retort, 'May God increase your thirst and never quench it. :n
Just as the imams were killed here on earth in cold blood, so will they
have the pleasure of meting out the punishment of the sword to their
enemies in manifold measure. We shall, in the remaining pages of this
study, follow the final scenes of this drama to its consummation before
the divine throne. We shall briefly investigate the place of the faithful
devotees of the imams in the redemptive drama of martyrdom,
Fa~imah's role in that drama, and, finally, the consummation of
the entire mission of the imams, and with it that of the history of
creation, in the return of the Mahdi, the great avenger, the man of the
sword.
6.3 THE FAITHFUL REMNANT:IS
We have often stressed in this study the identity of substance, destiny

and final beatification of the imams and their followers. The com-
munity, inasmuch as it has shared in the suffering of the Holy Family
here on earth, will share in the great rewards and gift of intercession of
the Prophet and the people of his household (ahl albayt) on the last
day. Moreover, the oppressors of the elect community of God and His
Apostle will share the same terrible fate as those who stained their
hands with the sacred blood ofi::Iusayn and many of his descendants. :m
The tradition attributed to <Ali, son of I::Iusayn, to which we have
repeatedly referred in this study, graphically describes the rewards of
faithful pilgrims to the sacred shrine ofKarbalal. An untold number of
angels will receive them at the sacred tomb and beseech God to forgive
all their sins .
. . . They shall engrave O? their faces with the stylus (maysam) of the
throne of God, 'This is the pilgrim to the grave of the best of
martyrs and son of the best of prophets. ' 40
On the Day of]udgment, a dazzling light shall shine in the pilgrims'
faces, and by this light they will be recognized. Then the Prophet and
<Ali, with Gabriel and Mic)1ael, will gather these people together, save
them from the fears of hell and bring them into the gardens of
paradise.
We examined in Chapter 4 above a curious tradition reported on the
authority of the sixth Imam which contradicts the very fact of
I::Iusayn's martyrdom. It describes him sitting on a throne of precious
stones on the mount ofRa<jwah, near Mecca, in the company of all the
ancient prophets waiting for the coming of the Mahdl. 41 This tradition
may have been based on an earlier and equally fantastic account of the
great favors given to the followers of the imams as they shall sit around
Imam I::Iusayn in great pomp and splendor. This latter account has no
time reference, but the Day of Resurrection may be intended. It is
noteworthy that both traditions are attributed to Ja<far al-Sadiq and
reported on the authority of al-Mufaddal Ibn <umar al-Ju<fi. Al-
Mufaddal has been a highly controversial figure among the disciples of
the sixth Imam, some people branding him as an extremist deviate, a
The faithful remnant 211
follower of Abu al-Khanab, a notorious disciple, and others praising

him for his piety and trustworthiness. 42
The following tradition declares that the pilgrims to the shrine of
Karbala> arc served by angels and fed on the food of paradise. Then, as
an afterthought, in response to the astonishment of al-Mufa<;l<;lal, the
sixth Imam exclaimed, 'Shall I tell you more?' He then went on,
I could see a couch of light over which is set up a dome or canopy
(qubbah) of red rubies and adorned with precious stones. I could see
I:Iusayn reclining on that couch and around him arc set up ninety
thousand green canopies. I could see the believers flocking to him
and greeting him. God, be He exalted, would then address them,
saying, 'Ask me my friends (awliya>); for long you were done harm,
humiliated and persecuted. Behold, today you would not ask me for
a need you may have in this world or the world to come, but that I
would grant it.' ... They shall then cat and drink in paradise. This,
by God, is the great favor (karamah) of which there will be no end. 4 a
We noted earlier in our discussion of the ziyarah ritual that through the
imams God causes the rain to fall, the earth to bring forth its fruits and
all evil and wrong to be alleviated. The place of the devotees in the
maintenance and preservation of the universal order of things is
asserted in many traditions attributed to the Prophet and the imams. In
a tradition attributed to the Prophet, he foretells the death off:lusayn at
the hands of evil and corrupt men in a brief dialogue with Fatimah. Of
the devotees of the imams he speaks as follows:
Then will come to bury f:lusayn and his companions men who love
us, whose ~nowledge of God and zeal to uphold our rights is
unequaled among men. They alone among men shall turn to us.
They are the lamps in the darkness of wrongdoing, and they are the
true intercessors. They shall meet me at my hawq on the last day, and
I shall recognize them by their names.... They are the support
(qitvam) of the earth and through them [i.e., their barakah] the rain
comes from heaven.... 44
These few elect of the Muslim community, and indeed ofhumanity,
occupy the place of intermediaries between God and the imams and the
rest of mankind. They are the righteous sufferers through whose favor
God's mercy is manifested. It may be observed that this phenomenon

of the elect community, the friends (awliyal) of God. and His true
servants, is a familiar one in the spiritual history ofhumanity. We need
only to mention the holy nation of ancient Israel, the Buddhist sangha
or order of the elect, and the Christian church as the communion of
saints, the sacred body of the crucified savior. In these and other cases,
we can discern an analogous role to that claimed by the imams for their
community (Sh;<ah) of the faithful. These elect are the sign of divine
love and providence; they are the standard by which the state of
corruption or goodness of society can be judged. In the eschatological
consummation of human history, they alone will be the witnesses to
the truth and its preservers. As a reward for their suffering and
steadfastness, 'they shall inherit the earth'. 45 They are the redeemed
community, and, in a way, through their participation in the suf-
ferings and favors of the imams, they will play a decisive role in the final
consummation of history, the 'salvation-history' (Heilsgeschichte) of
humanity, a role, in the view ofShti piety, both concrete and violent.
This holy remnant will make up the human part of the victorious
forces of the Mahdl. We shall return at some length to the Mahdi and his
supporters, but first we must briefly consider the important role of the
sorrowful mother of the imams, Eitimah al-Zahra>.
6.4 FATIMAH: THE MrsTREss OF THE DAY OF JuDGMENT
In sharp contrast to the violence characterizing the long drama of

suffering and revenge with which we are concerned stands Eitimah,
the sorrowful mother who endured all her sufferings patiently. Her
only weapon was and still is her tears, which here on earth were a
source of grief and embarrassment to the people of Medina and in
paradise continue to be a flaming fire kindling the grief and anger of
the celestial hosts and the wrath of God himself. God, we are told, is
wrathful when Eitimah is angry and pleased when she is happy. 46
It was observed above (Chapter 2, in our discussion of the exegesis
of the 'light verse' attributed to the sixth Imam) that Fatimah shares
with the imams not only their sufferings but also their high status with
God. Her name, like those of her father, husband and two sons, is
Fa(imah: the mistress of the day of judgment 213
derived from a divine name or attribute. Thus on the leg of the throne
is written the name of God 'Fatir' (Creator), and beside it the name
'Fatimah' as the earthly symbol of the divine creative power. The
Prophet called his daughter Fatimah (the weaned one) because God
had spared her, 47 her progeny and those who love them from the fire.
Fatimah's humiliation will be amply rewarded. The poverty and
privation which she endured in life will be matched with unim-
aginable glory. All creatures, men, angels andjinn, will be dazzled by
her radiant light as she stands before God to pass judgment on her
persecutors and grant intercession to those who love ahl al-bayt. The
mistress of the House of Sorrows will be the mistress of the Day of
Judgment.
In a prophetic tradition (hadlth nabawl) related on the authority of
the famous hadlth transmitter, Abu Hurayrah, we have a vivid descrip-
tion of Fatimah's royal entry into the divine presence:
When the Day of Resurrection shall come, and all creatures will
stand before God for judgment, a voice from behind the veil (hijab)
shall announce, '0 men turn down your gaze and bow down your
heads, for Eitimah, the daughter ofMubammad, is about to traverse
the ~ira(. ' 411
Fatimah will pass over the bridge of separation on a she-camel oflight
with a crown adorned with jewels on her head. On her right and left,
she will be surrounded by multitudes of angels and will advance until
she is on the same level as the throne of God. She will dismount and
stand before God with the blood-stained shirt of her martyred son
I;Iusayn in her hand and say:
... 0 Lord, judge Thou between me, and those who had wronged
me. Judge between me and those who killed my child.
A voice from the divine throne will answer, '0 my beloved and
daughter of my beloved, ask me and thou shalt be given, intercede
with me for thine intercession will be accepted. ' 411
Fatimah will seek divine retribution for the wrongs she and her
martyred son suffered. While Sunni and Sh'f'i views differ regarding
her own sufferings and the cause of her death, they concur on her deep
sorrow for the death of her son and her right to seek vengeance from
God on the last day upon those who committed such a crime against
God and His Apostlc. 5 Fatimah will therefore stand before God,
either with the blood-stained shirt ofl:Iusayn or with the Imam him-
self, a body without a head.
In a tradition attributed to the fifth Imam, Mubammad al-Baqir, we
are told that:
On the Day of Resurrection, Fatimah will stand at the gate ofhell,
and on the forehead of every man will be written 'mu lmin' [believer]
or 'ktifir' [unbeliever]. A lover (muhibb) [of the Holy Family] whose
sins were too numerous would be ordered to the fire. Fatimah
would read between his eyes the word 'lover,' and so she would say,
'0 my Lord and Master, Thou hast called me Fatimah and protected
me (fa(amtani) and those who accept my walayah and that of my
descendants, from the fire, for Thy promise is true and Thou
wouldst not revoke Thy promise.'
God would repeat her words in confirmation and continue,
... But I ordered the servant of mine to the fire so that thou mayest
intercede with me on his behalf and I would accept thine inter-
cession for him, in order to manifest to my angels, prophets and
apostles and the people of the gathering (mawqif) thy status with me.
Thus whosoever thou readest between his eyes 'believer,' take him
by the hand and lead him to paradise. 51
This tradition provides one of the clearest expressions of the concept
of redemption in ShN piety. Intercession is generally understood in
Islam as necessary for those who have led a good life but whose
b_alance of good and evil deeds inclines more to the side of evil than to
the side of good. Both the intercession of the prophets and the friends
(awliyal) of God, coupled with divine mercy, may benefit the trans-
gressing believer. Fatimah's role, as depicted in the tradition we have
just cited, is more than that of an intercessor. She is given the authority
to counteract the divine judgment. She does not intercede on the
behalf of a believer that his punishment may be lightened, but rather
saves a sinner from the torment of hell altogether. Of special interest
in this tradition is the conscious identification of the love for ahl
al-bayt with faith. Thus God is made to say, 'Whosoever thou
Fa{imah: the mistress of the day of judgment 215
readest between his eyes "mu>min" .. .'instead of the earlier inscrip-

tion 'muhibb'.
We have already discussed in this chapter the divine decree of
suffering and persecution for the family of Mubammad, and the
reward each of its members will have on the Day of Judgment.
Fatimah will be highly recompensed for her many sufferings and
humiliations. Thus God addressed the Prophet on the night of his
heavenly journey,
As for thy daughter, I shall make her stand near my throne where
she will be told, 'Behold, God hath given thee power over His
creatures. Whosoever hath wronged thee and thy children, thou
mayestjudge them as thou wishest; for God will accept thy verdict
concerning them. ' 52
All the gathered multitudes of men and angels will witness as those
who Wronged her arc brought forth and she orders them to the fire.
The wrongdoers will be filled with remorse for their crimes against
God and the people of the household ofHis Apostle, for rejecting their
walayah and taking other men as their masters (awli'ya>).
As Fatimah was the first to suffer wrong after the Prophet, her final
vindication will bring the drama of sorrows and sufferings of ahl
al-bayt to a close. Her vindication, moreover, will include the vin-
dication of her husband and their descendants. The Prophet is sup-
posed to have described this final episode of the drama thus: On the
Day ofRcsurrection his daughter will be told to enter paradise, but she
will refuse, saying, "I will11ot enter until I know what was done to my
son [f:lusayn] after me." Fatimah will then see her martyred son, a
body without a head, contending with his murderers. Horrified by
this sight, she will utter a loud cry to which the Prophet, earlier
prophets and angels will respond with similar cries of grief and horror.
At this, God himself will flame with wrath for her and will order the
kindling of a fire, called Habhab, which has burned for a thousand
years. Into this black furnace the murderers off:lusayn and 'bearers of
the Qur>ans' (that is, the people who fought against 'Ali in the Battle of
Siffin) will be consigned. 53
In a different version of this tradition, f:lusayn is transformed,
before Fatimah's eyes, into the best of forms. His murderers and all
those who shared in taking his blood will be brought together for the
final retribution. They will be killed and resuscitated until each of the
imams has killed them once. The sixth Imam concludes,' ... Then will
all anger be appeased and all sorrow forgotten. ' 54 The final episode of
revenge just discussed must be preceded by a universal period of
restoration here on earth where the Mahdi, the twelfth Imam, will be
given universal authority. We shall, therefore, end this chapter with an
investigation of his mission, which will usher in the consummation of
human history.
6.5 AL-MAHDI, THE FINAL AVENGER
Behold, he is coming with the

clouds, and every eye will see him,
everyone who pierced him and all
tribes of the earth will wail on
account of him. 55
The long history of the imams began before time and creation. They
were, according to Sh'fi piety, supposed to have existed with God as
His primordial Word and Spirit. (Ali, the first Imam, in a long sermon
reported on the authority ofhis great grandson, Mubammad al-Baqir,
said:
God, exalted be He, is One (ahad wahid) unique in His unity. He
uttered a word which became a light. From that light He created
Mubammad and created me and my progeny. Then God uttered
another word which became a spirit, which He made to dwell in
that light and the light He made to dwell in our bodies. Thus we are
the spirit of God and His words. 56
The tradition goes on to assert that the imams were hidden in a green
cloud (:?illah khacfra\ praising and magnifying God before there was
sun or moon, day or night. The imiims, therefore, are the true divine
Logos which preceded all creation; through them, and for their sake,
all things were made.
The imams collectively are like Christ for the Sh'fi community. Each
al-Mahd'i, the final avenger 217
of them, moreover, embodies one or several aspects of this quasi-

Christological personality. On earth, J:Iusayn was the embodiment of
the betrayed and suffering martyr, mirroring Christ in his sufferings.
The twelfth Imam, the Mahdi, on the other hand, mirrors in his
personality and mission the judging and victorious Christ, the Christ
who is to come on the clouds ofheaven, whose return the community
still awaits with anxious anticipation. The time of his concealment
(ghaybah) is a time of travail, a period of disintegration which must
precede the final restoration. Finally, like the second coming of Christ,
his reappearance or return (ra/ah) will be a time offear and remorse, of
going astray and general chaos. All this, however, will' be followed by
a long period of peace, prosperity, and the final triumph of truth over
falsehood when justice and equity will reign forever. Thus it is related
that the Prophet said,
If there will remain of this world one day, God will prolong that day
until a male descendant of mine, whose name shall be my name and
patronym (kunyah) will be my kunyah. He shall fill the earth with
equity and justice as it has been filled with inequity :nd wrong-
doing. 57
The literature dealing with the Mahdr, his birth, concealment and
return, is vast and complex. A critical discussion of even a fraction of it
is beyond the scope of this study. 511 We shall therefore discuss only a
few selected traditions to reconstruct a sequential history of the Imam.
The personality of the hidden Imam has provided Shiel piety with rich
soil for the most fantastic hagiographical imagination. Indeed, some of
the traditions, especially those dealing with his return, have been a
source of embarrassment for Shf-'i <u[amal and traditionists. For our
purposes, however, such traditions do reflect ShN piety, its hopes,
disappointments and visions of a better existence; so we shall not
overly concern ourselves with the question of authenticity and the
theological acceptability of these traditions. We do not, however,
wish to imply that all of them represent official Shiel beliefs. We
shall indicate when necessary strong objections to or approvals of
some of the traditions, and the men on whose authority they were
transmitted.
It has already been stressed that the imams of the Ithna<ashari Shiel
community stand at the end of a long line of prophets and vicegerents.

Even the number twelve is taken to be normative, the number of
vicegerents (aw~i'yiil) of every major prophet. Furthermore, each pro-
phet and his chief vicegerent had a period of concealment, a period of
trial for their community and a cause for the establishment of divine
judgment against his opponents. 59 Another reason for the con-
cealment of other prophets and vicegerents was the threat to their lives
from evil rulers. The coming of the Mahdi at the end ofhuman history
will be the fulfillment of the mission of all the prophets before him and
the time of their final vindication.
The last prophet, Muhammad, and the imams after him, announced
the coming of the Mahdi; traditions related from the imams display an
air of impatient expectancy on the part of the community. Al-Kulayni
relates that <Abd al-Malik Ibn A<iyun, a disciple of the fifth Imam, said,
'I rose to leave the Imam Abuja<far [al-Baqir] supporting myself with
my arm, and I wept'. The Imam asked what made him weep and <Abd
al-Malik answered, 'I had hoped to see that great event [i.e., the
coming of the Mahdi'] while I still had strength in me.' The Imam
retorted angrily, 'Are you [i.e., his followers] not satisfied that your
enemies kiii one another while you sit safely in your homes? For when
that event shall come1 each man among you will be given the strength
of forty men .... You would be the foundations of the earth and its
treasurers. ' 60
This dialogue depicts well the situation during the period of the
imiims between the death of f:lusayn and the beginning of the con-
cealment of the twelfth Imam. There is no doubt, in our view, that both
the imams and their followers expected a victorious future imam who
would succeed where I;:Iusayn had failed and who would attain power
for himself and his community. Such expectations could be very
dangerous, and thus the imams had to keep this hope alive without
kindling the zeal of their followers into an armed revolt. They there-
fore constructed an increasingly complex metaphysical and theo-
logical cult of the Mahdi. His birth, occultation and return were
beyond the knowledge of any man and it was even unlawful for the
imams' followers to speculate about such things. Not even his name
was to be mentioned; men were to refer to him only by his many titles
and epithets, such as: al-Qalim (the rising one), 1-Jujjat al-Muhammad
al-Mahdi, the final avenger 219
(the proof of the family ofMul).ammad), Sa~ib al-Zaman (master of the

age), and, of course, the Mahd'i. 61
Like the imams before him, the twelfth Imam is said to have had a
miraculous birth. He was born on the eighth day ofSha1ban in the year
255 of the hijrah 62 (869 A.D.). He came out of his mother's womb
prostrate in the attitude of prayer, pure and circumcised, raising his
voice in the profession of faith (shahadah). His father took him in his
arms, passed his hands over his mouth, eyes and ears and said, 'Speak,
0 my son.' The Imam recounted the names of all the imams from 1Ali to
himself and prayed that the relief ifaraj) of the community be at his
hands. sa The infant grew up miraculously so that by the time his father
died, less than five years later, he had reached manhood and was of age
to bear the burden of the imamah. His infancy is reminiscent of that of
Moses and Jesus. Like them, his birth was kept secret except from the
few elect. Forty days after his birth, like Moses in Sh;<; tradition, 64 he
was taken away and cared for by angels, returning only for brief visits
at intervals of fr>rtv days. When a great aunt asked to see the blessed
infant one day, his father replied, '0 aunt, we have committed him to
the care of Him in whose charge the mother of Moses put her child. ' 65
In most early traditions the disappearance of the infant was sup-
posed to have been caused by the wide search conducted by the
1Abbasid authorities for any male child of the eleventh Imam. The plan
was to kill such an infant if found, and thus break the line of the
imamate succession. 66 Perhaps this fear is hinted at in the tradition
which asserts that the young mother of the twelfth Imam showed no
signs of pregnancy while carrying him. 67 The mother of the Imam was
a Christian slave girl captured during a Muslim expedition against
Byzantine territory. This unknown war captive has been given an
exalted place in the universal history of prophetic succession. Narjis,
as the girl was called, was made to be a granddaughter of the Byzantine
emperor. Long before her captivity, she was visited by Fatimah, the
venerable ancestress of the imams, who instructed her in the principles
oflslam and prepared her for the great role she was to play. Finally, the
prophets Jesus and Mubammad with their vicegerents Simon Peter
(Sham1iin) and 1Ali appeared to the girl. Mubammad asked for her
hand from Jesus, and <Ali and Si!llon Peter acted as witnesses to the
marriage contract. Fatimah and the Virgin Mary also came to bless the
sacred marriage. From that time on the eleventh Imam, I::Iasan al-
<Askarl, the girl's future spouse, came to sec her every night in a
dream. He finally ordered her to flee her country and allow herself to
be sold into slavery.
In this way the twelfth Imam's lineage combined both royalty and
prophecy. More important still is the direct inclusion of Christianity
in the popular concept and mythic history of the imams in Ithna<asharl
Sht<lsm. The connection of the hidden Imam with the earlier prophets,
their revelations and communities, is an integral part of the Sht<l
doctrine of the imam. In popular piety, as we shall see later, this
connection becomes an identification of the Mahdl with all the
prophets before him.
It has been observed that every prophet had a period of concealment
(ghaybah). Thus the ghaybah of the Mahdl is a continuation of the
ancient practices (sunan) of the prophets. The sixth Imam told one of
his disciples, Sudayr, 'Our Qa)im will have a long concealment (ghay-
bah).' Sudayr asked the reason for this and the Imam continued, 'It is
because God would have the ways (sunan) of the earlier prophets [i.e.,
their concealments] continued in him. It will be necessary for him ...
to equal all the periods of their concealments. ' 6H The concealment of
the Mahdl, like the concealments of earlier prophets and vicegerents,
was decreed by God who alone knows the wisdom behind His own
decrees.
The Mahdl had two periods of concealment: one during which he
communicated with the community through special representatives,
and a longer or greater concealment which will continue until he
returns at the end of the world. Men living during the period of his
greater occultation should not ask questions but only pray for his
return. AI-Kulaynl, the famous Sht<l traditionist, wondered about the
Imam's concealment, its length and the wisdom behind it. The answer
came to him through the Imam's second representative (wakll),
Mubammad b. <uthman al-<umarl:
As for the reason for theghaybah, God says, '0 believers, question
not concerning things, which if they were revealed to you, would
vex you.' 6 ~
For there were none of my fathers but that there was in his neck an
allegiance (fi <unuqihi bay<ah) to one of the tyrants ((awaghit) of his

time. I shall return when I return, and there is for no evil ruler a
bay<ah in my neck. As for the benefits that can accrue from me
during myghaybah, they are like those of the sun when clouds hide it
from the sight of men. I am the safety for the inhabitants of the earth
as the stars are for the inhabitants of heaven. 70
The Imam counselled his followers not to inquire about things which
do not concern them, but to pray instead for God to hasten their
relief.
More than any of the imams before him, the twelfth Imam embodied
the fears, disappointments and final fulfillment of all the hopes and
aspirations of the Sh'N community. In the tradition just cited, all the
imams before him had to give tacit approval under duress to the
unlawful authority of the rulers of their time. TheMahdl will be free of
this sanction of usurpation, always unlawful, since the imam alone has
the right to be the head of the community. 71 The reason for his lesser
concealment, attributed to the Prophet himself, is that he was afraid of
being killed. 72 Moreover, the imams before him were often betrayed by
their own followers, as was the case with both l:Iasan and I:Iusayn.
Thus when the Mahdi comes, there will be no one guilty of such a
heinous crime against the true representative of God and His Apostle.
Rather, those who accept his walayah during his absence, and are not
swayed by hardships, doubts and persecutions, will be greatly
rewarded for their patience and steadfastness.
It is clear in many of the early traditions that people expected the
return of the Mahd'i during the reign of the <Abbiisids. This expectation
grew in intensity as the power of the <Abbiisid caliphate weakened and
revolts sprang up throughout the Muslim world. As this hope was not
realized, the emphasis began to shift to an indefinite future. The time
of the return of the Mahd'i was declared to be a secret guarded by God,
known only to Him. The expectant followers of tQe imams, who
wished to be among those destined to make up the great and vic-
torious armies of al-Qa>im, were told that their patient wish to be so
honored would earn them the same merit as if they had fought and
died with him. Thus the fourth Imam, <AJI Zayn aJ-<Abidin, was
supposed to have declared to one of his disciples, Abu Khiilid al-
Kabili, that theghaybah of the twelfth vicegerent of the Apostle ofGod

would be a long one. He continued:
... The people of the period of his ghaybah, who profess his
imamate and wait for his appearance, are better than the people of
any other age. For God shall give them such knowledge and under-
standing wherewith the ghaybah for them would be like vision or
presence (mushiihadah). They shall be considered by God as though
they had fought alongside the Apostle of God with the sword. They
are truly our faithful followers (Sht<ah) and the enjoiners to the
religion of God openly and in secret. n
A tradition relating a long sermon of <Ali, the first Imam, further
asserts that any believer who dies a natural death before the coming of
the Mahdi will be resurrected in order to be martyred with him and
will thus attain the merit of dying in the way ofGod. Anyone, on the
other hand, who is killed will also be resurrected in order to enjoy the
peace and security of the Mahdi's reign and die a natural death after a
very long life. 74
The return of the Mahdi will be preceded by a long period of chaos
and degeneration, to continue with increasing intensity until evil,
falsehood and wickedness dominate the earth. The disintegration is to
be complete and universal. There will be total disorder: political
unrest, immorality, falsehood and a total disregard for the principles
of religion. Nature will manifest similar signs of disorder and chaos.
The final stages of this total disintegration will be the sign, for the
small and faithful remnant, of the coming of the Mahdi, who will usher
in a new era of restoration. These manifestations of universal dis-
integration will be the signs of the Mahdl's return (rafah ), since he was
to come after the final collapse of<Abbasid rule. Such predictions must
have been made either at the time of these events or shortly afterwards,
in retrospect. 75
Another strange but telling sign is to be the appearance of al-Sufyani
<uthman Ibn <Andasah, a descendant of Yazid, at the head of a large
army from Damascus. After wreaking death and destruction in the
land, the army will proceed towards Mecca and Medina to destroy
them and defeat the Mahdi. But God will cause the earth to open up
and swallow the entire army while still in the desert. This prophecy
reflects well the events which were supposed to have taken place
during the last year of Yazid's short reign. 76
These political events will be only part of the general disorder in the
world. A man asked the fifth Imam, al-Baqir, about the signs of the
coming of the Mahdi; the Imam answered:
It will be when women will be like men and men like women; when
men would be satisfied with men and women with women; and
when females would ride astride saddled horses. It will be also when
false testimonies will be accepted and true testimonies rejected;
when men would take the blood of other men lightly, commit
fornication and devour the money of the poor in usury. 77
In those days, moreover, religion will be just a name on the lips of
people and the Qur'an will become dead words on paper with no
meaning or influence in the lives of men and women. There will
appear sixty false men claiming to be prophets. 7H Then will appear the
anti-Christ (al-Dajjal) and he will mislead people with great signs and
miracles. 79 Many will go astray and only the few elect of God will be
steadfast in the faith.
These traditions are but a continuation of the long history of the
apocalyptic vision of humanity. They remind us of the apocalyptic
warnings of Christ that, before his second coming, many false mes-
siahs will appear. Fathers will betray their sons and sons their fathers,
and nations will rise up against other nations. When these and many
other terrible signs appear, 'The coming of the son of man [the true
messiah] will be at hand. ' 110 Similarly, when alljustice, truthfulness and
goodness disappear from the earth, then God will rescue His creation
and restore harmony and order forever.
This general chaos will be manifested in nature as well. The earth
shall withhold its fruits and the heavens their rain; the sun will rise in
the west and set in the east, and there will be earthquakes in the east and
the west. 111
In Islam, as in Christianity and other religious traditions, this
apocalyptic vision of the last days is an essential part of the redemptive
history of humanity. 82 Al-.Qa 1im, for the Ithnii<ashari Sht, 'the day on which f:lusayn, son of<Ali; was killed'. 83 He

shall appear first in Mecca, the holiest city oflslam, but will make his
'headquarters in Kiifah. There, where <An was killed and buried, and
nearby KarbalaJ, the sacred shrine ofl;lusayn, the Mahdl will have his
seat of judgment.
Like Christ and other saviors, the Mahdi will save humanity and the
entire creation from degeneration. Al-Mufid, perhaps reflecting earlier
ideas of the Mahdi's mission, asserts that al-QaVm will reign for a
period of seven years, each year equaling ten of our years. Thus, after a
reign of 70 years, the Mahdi will die and forty days later the resur-
rection will come. 114 This final period is the time of the end, when the
earth will be without an imam and no repentance will be accepted.
Although according to this tradition, the Mahdl will fulfill his
mission and usher in the resurrectiop., Sh;<; piety could not accept an
eschatology which did not include the Prophet, <Ali, and his two sons,
f:lasan and l;lusayn. In particular, the return (karrah) of l;lusayn to
revenge his own blood was promised very early. Perhaps one of the
earliest references appears in a tradition reporting an exegesis by the
sixth Imam of the following Qur>anic verse: 'And mention in the Book
Ishmael; he was true to his promise, and he was a Messenger, a
Prophet. ' 115 The Imam commented, 'This was not the son of A braham,
but rather Isma<il, son ofl;lazqil. 'R6 This otherwise unknown prophet
was supposed to have been tortured by his people, who flayed the skin
ofhis head and face and left him to suffer a slow and painful death. God
sent to him the angel of torment who was commanded to obey the
Prophet's orders in punishing these cruel people. But the prophet
declined this divine offer ofimmediate revenge and prayed instead, '0
my Lord ... Thou hast promised l;lusayn to return him to this world
to avenge himself on those who killed him. My wish is that Thou
wouldst return me with l;lusayn to this world so that I may also
avenge myself on those who did this to me. ' 117 This tradition contains
all the basic elements that were to go into the saga of the return of
l;lusayn with the Mahdf, elements which were woven into some of the
most fantastic tales.
In another account contemporary with the one just quoted, we read
of the return not only ofl;lusayn, but of the Prophet, <Ali and l;lasan as
well. Here, clearly the Mahdi was regarded first and foremost as an
al-Mahdl, the final avenger 225
avenger and only secondarily as the messiah at whose hands God

would establish equity and justice in the earth. In this tradition,
moreover, the Prophet and the first three imams appear before the
Mahdi with multitudes of angels and all the prophets of old. We are
told that on the night of a Friday, the eve of the Mahdl's return, God
will send an angel to the heaven of this world. Before dawn, the angel
will set up pulpits of light f9r Mu}Jammad, <Ali, f;Iasan and f;Iusayn
near the sacred house of Mecca. The gates of heaven will be opened,
and all prophets and believers with innumerable angels will join the
Prophet and his vicegerents. At sunset the Prophet will exclaim:
0 Lord, Thy promise which Thou didst give in Thy Book, 'God
has promised those of you who believe and do righteous deeds that
He will surely make you successors in the land, even as He made
those who were before them successors. ' 88
All the angels and prophets will repeat the same words. Then
Mu}Jammad, <Ali, I:Iasan and I:Iusayn will bow down in prostration
and say, '0 Lord show Thou Thy wrath, for the sanctity of Thy
women servants has been violated; Thy elect ones were killed and
Thy pious servants humiliated. ' 89
Before we look briefly again at the return of f;Iusayn and his final
part in the drama of the consummation of time and human history, we
shall attempt a reconstruction of the story of the reappearance and
reign of the Mahdi. The ideas of the following sketch are drawn from
several often contradictory traditions. We shall attempt only to pre-
sent an outline oftheMahdl's activities, bearing in mind that the simple
historical sequence here presented gives no indication of the com-
plexity of the material on which we draw. 90
The Mahdl will appear on the day of<Ashurii'. Six months prior to
his appearance, injumada II and through the first ten days ofRajab, the
heavens will pour down heavy rains such as were never experienced
before. With this rain, God will cause the flesh and bodies ofbelievers
to sprout out of the earth. The sixth Imiim, to whom this tradition is
attributed, continues: 'I can see them [the resuscitated believers] has-
tening to the Mahdl while they wipe the dust off their heads. ' 91 The
Mahdi will be joined first by 313 believers, the number of the martyrs
ofBadr. He will lean his back against the wall of the Ka<bah and utter
the Qur>anic verse: 'God's remainder is better for you, if you are
believers.... n 2 Then applying the sacred text to himself, he would
add, 'I am the remnant of God in His earth. ' 93 To the 313 men will be
added 10,000 warriors and with this army the victorious 'Proof of
God', the Mahdi, will proceed to subdue the earth.
That the !v!ahdi will consummate not only the mission of the last
prophet Mubammad and the imams after him, but that of all prophets
before him, is clear from the way his mission is related to theirs. Thus
we are told that all the angels who were with Noah in the ark, with
Abraham in the fiery furnace, with Moses when he parted the sea for
the children of Israel, with Jesus when God lifted him up to himself
and with Mubammad in the Battle ofBadr, will come to support the
Mahdi in his struggle. 94
The Mahdi's continuity with earlier prophets is carried further,
identifying him with all the prophets and their vicegerents. A late
tradition, attributed to the sixth Imam, and reported on the authority
of al-Mufadc;lal, tells that the Mahdi will stand, leaning his back, against
the wall of the Ka<bah where he will receive thebay<ah of the angels, the
jinn a_nd the believers of men. Then he will address all creatures,
saying, ' ... He who wishes to look at Adam and Seth [his son and
vicegerent], behold I am Adam and Seth.' Then he will mention the
rest of the prophets and their vicegerents: Noah and Shem, Abraham
and Ishmael, Moses and Joshua, Jesus and Simon Peter, Mubammad
and <Ali and the rest of the imams; after every prophet he will proclaim,
' ... Behold I am .. .' that prophet and his vicegerent. !) 5 Then the
Mahdi will recite the book or scroll (that is, the sacred revelation) of
every prophet, and the community of each prophet will testify that
this is their book as it was revealed. It is rather strange to see that the
Qur>an, claimed by all Muslims to be free of any distortion (tahri.f) or
change (tabdil), is treated in this fantastic tradition like any other
revealed book. What is said of the Qur>an is said of all the other books
as well:
Then al-Qa>im would recite the Qur>an and the Muslims would
exclaim, 'This, by God, is the true Qur>an which God sent down
to Mubammad, including what is left out of it, distorted and
changed. !Js
al-Mahdr, the final avenger 227
Finally, the Mahdl will destroy the holy house of Mecca, the Ka<bah,
except for the first foundations which were raised by Adam and
Abraham and his son Ishmael, for what was built subsequently was
not built by a prophet or vicegerent. n7 From his headquarters in Kufah,
the Mahdl will send his armies of men, angels andjinn to conquer the
entire earth. He will avenge the blood ofl;Iusayn so that he' ... would
kill the descendants of the murderers ofl;Iusayn in punishment for the
deeds of their fathers.nH
In the age of the Mahdl, space and time will lose their value. Thus, as
he stands in the sacred precincts of the Ka<bah, Gabriel will call out,
'Hasten all ye men to the bay<ah of God!' All the men of the scattered
community will hear the call and run to answer it. 'The earth shall be
rolled up for them', and they will stand before the Master of the Age in
the twinkling of an eye. !l!J The Mahdl shall purify the earth of all evil,
wrongdoing and falsehood. He will 'call men to Islam anew' and guide
them to the truth. 100 There will be no unbeliever at that time who will
not return to the true faith, nor will there be any corruption in men or
things. All infirmities will be healed and all disease, poverty and
privation will disappear forever. 'In his reign lions will be tamed, the
earth will give forth its fruits in abundance and the heavens will pour
down their blessings. '~ 01
The era of the Mahdl is like the peaceable kingdom envisioned by the
ancient prophet oflsrael. 102 The Shr<i vision of an era of absolute peace,
prosperity and blessing goes further than the Isaianic vision, resem-
bling more closely perhaps the new earth envisioned by the venerable
seer ofPatmos, St. John the Divine. 10:l Like the beloved disciple John,
the sixth Imam al-Sadiq envisioned an earth 'resplendent with the light
of its Lord' 104 where men 'will have no need for the light of the sun
or moon, and darkness will be dispelled forever'. 105
If, however, the imams and their early followers were satisfied with
such a great vision, the imagination of subsequent generations, fired
perhaps by the years of long and fruitless anticipation with no visible
imam to give guidance, could stop at nothing less than the revenge of
the martyred Imam I;Iusayn himself for his own blood. We have
already seen in this chapter two references to the return (karrah) of
l:fusayn to this world to exact vengeance for his own blood. In neither
of the two traditions, however, were any details given of the execution
of the martyred Imam's revenge. ln fact, our second account does not
necessarily have to be interpreted as an actual return; rather it can be
seen as a temporary spiritual appearance by the Prophet and the three
imams who play no further role in the final episode of this eschato-
logical drama here on earth.
One of the most explicit traditions to speak of the actual return of
I:Iusayn is reported on the authority of the notorious disciple of the
sixth Imam, Abu al-Khattab. He related from the sixth Imam that:
The first to be brought forth from the earth and to return to this
world is I:Iusayn, son of<All. For the return (ra/ah) is not general,
but rather limited. Only those who manifested true belief or
extreme unbelief (shirk) will be returned [that is, before the resur-
rection]. 106
In another tradition reported on the authority ofi:Iumran Ibn A ~~'n, a
famous disciple of the fifth and sixth Imams, the fifth Imam said that
I:Iusayn will come back to this world and reign for a long time, until
' ... his eyebrows shall fall over his eyes of old age'. 107 It is further.
related thati:Iusayn himself described his ownrafah as well as his great
achievements: he would conquer India and break every idol; he would
kill every animal which God had made unlawful (haram) to eat, so that
only clean animals remain on the earth; finally, he would make Jews
and Christians choose between Islam and the sword. Those who
accept Islam will be greatly rewarded while those who refuse will be
put to the sword. In his reign, trees will break under the burden of their
own fruits and people will be able to eat summer fruits in winter and
winter fruits in summer. Every infirm person will be cured, and every
poor person well provisioned. 10H
The drama we have been following has many endings. We saw one
possible conclusion in the final vindication ofFatimah and the revenge
that is to be exacted by all the imams as they one by one kill their
enemies. The sixth Imam declared that after this, 'All anger shall be
appeased-and all sorrow forgotten. ' 109 These endings, connected with
the return ofi:Iusayn and his venerable father and grandfather, are the
products of later imagination. The early scene fades almost imper-
ceptibly into the celestial realms, and on the Day of Resurrection
I:Iusa yn will witness the death ofhis victorious descendant, the Mahdl.
Since no one should perform the funerary duties of a vicegerent

except another vicegerent, 110 I:Iusayn will bury the Mahdi and reign in
his stead with his companions who were killed with him in Karbala>
for three hundred long years.
This will not, however, be the end. The millennia! reign ofi:Iusayn
will culminate with the final defeat of Satan and all his hosts. The man
at whose hands this final victory will be achieved is <All Ibn Abi Talib,
the heroic wielder of the great sword (dhii al:fiqar). Then, 'God the
Invincible (al-jabbar) himself will descend in clouds of fire with the
angels', and his eternal decree will be executed. 111 This final battle
against the very principle of evil will naturally be fought near Karbala>,
the stage of the earthly portion of our drama.
We have insisted throughout this study that f:lusayn, the great
martyr, embodies for the ShN community the entire drama of suf-
fering, revenge and redemption. That the imams, especially the
twelfth, will play a major role in this drama is of course clear from all
that we have said. But that the entire drama revolves around I;lusayn,
who is its omnipresent hero, is equally indisputable. In fact, it may
safely be stated that, at least for later Shri piety, this great universal
drama which began before creation with I:Iusayn as its chief character
will end with him. What follows on the Day ofResurrection will be
simply a foregone conclusion of his final judgment. Through his
death, I:Iusayn provided the final proof or contention (hujjah) of God
over and against His creation. Hence, it will be his prerogative to
pronounce the divine judgment over all men. Thus the sixth Imam is
supposed to have boldly asserted, 'The one who shall conduct the final
reckoning (hisiib) of men before the Day ofResurrection is I:Iusayn Ibn
<Ali. As for the Day of Resurrection itself, it shall be a day of sending
forth (ba<th) to the Garden or to the Fire. ' 112
Thus the cycle will be completed. We began with a pure and holy
creation, a creation which has been confronted with a choice between
judgment or salvation. History is the stage on which this choice is
painfully and dramatically worked out. When the process is com-
pleted, creation will return to its original purity and 'the earth shall be
changed to other than the earth'. lla All dominion will belong to
God.ll4
Conclusion
We have traced the long drama of suffering, martyrdom and redemp-

tion in Shti piety from its beginning in the time before time was, to its
end in the eternal future, when time will be no longer. Through the
sufferings of the friends ofGod, time and history, human history, will
be redeemed. Furthermore, this long drama, although special per-
sonages play central roles in it, has the entire universe for its stage and
all creatures as members of its universal cast.
The phenomenon of redemption through suffering in the long
history of man's religiousness is, we believe, both ancient and uni-
versal. It may be seen in the interaction of diverse cultures and religi-
ous traditions, but more profoundly in the way men and women
through the ages, in different areas of the world, have expressed their
yearnings for a better and redeemed existence and the confidence of
faith in this possibility. This affirmation oflife in the face of death has
been proclaimed in our world in many languages and forms of ex-
pression. The worshippers of Tammuz, on the very spot where the
martyr of Karbala> fell, expressed this affirmation in the confidence
that the mysterious power oflife would return to replenish their food
stores. Yet their tears and supplications were necessary to call back
the youthful God from the depths of darkness and death. Love for
Tammuz was love for life, the love ofhusband and wife, mother and
son and brother and sister. 1
The prophets of ancient Israel, heir to the rich legacy of Mesopo-
tamian religion and culture, expressed this affirmation of life and
salvation in the intense sufferings of the 'servant of the Lord'. 2 The
servant who is first presented in the most pathetic state of degradation
and suffering is then hailed as the exalted messenger of the Lord and
His mouthpiece. The servant of the Lord has lived through the history
of the Judaeo-Christian tradition as the embodiment of all suffering,
both the collective sufferings of the community of the faithful and also
the personal sufferings of the ancient prophets and crucified Christ. 3
232 Conclusion
Had the suffering servant of the Lord been introduced to ShN Mus-
lims, he would have found, we believe, a prominent place in the long
drama of suffering in ShN piety as well.
The drama of Karbala> has had a colorful history in the folklore,
literature, art and religious piety of the Shi(i community, although this
aspect of the history of Karbala> had to be largely left out of our
discussion. The dynamic personality oflmam l;Iusayn, as he continues
to live and grow in the Muslim community, deserves more attention
as well, since he both reflects its experience of failure and expresses its
hopes and aspirations. In times of alienation, struggle and persecution,
l;Iusayn uttered the curses and condemnations ofhis small community
of followers against their oppressors. In times of security and pros-
perity, he provided an example of all the virtues to which a free and
prosperous community should aspire.
Like other redeeming martyrs before him, l;Iusayn played the role
of the 'prince of peace', healing and redeeming human existence, and
the role of the terrible judge who metes out the awful punishment of
strict justice with no mercy. These two sides of cruel judgment and
compassionate pardon are common, in our view, to every phenome-
non of redemption. Generally speaking, characterization of a martyr
as a stern judge is the product of political failure and social and
religious oppression and, moreover, continues to nourish the com-
munity's hope for a better future. This side of a character is usually
stressed in proportion to the harshness of the community's cir-
cumstance and the bitterness that follows a bJeak moment in its
history. It is perhaps not altogether accidental that the apocalyptic
literature of early Christianity, of which the Apocalypse of John is a
good example, was the product of the period ofRoman persecution of
the church. Likewise, most of the harsh and fantastic traditions dealing
with revenge and judgment in ShN piety belong to the period of
difficult times which the communities experienced in early (Abbasid
rule, before Buwayhid ascendancy.
It is not, however, difficult to see the other side ofl;Iusayn's charac-
ter, the side of mercy, love, healing and forgiveness, expressed often in
stark contradiction to its opposite. In the Mahdl's reign, universal
brotherhood, true faith, comfort and happiness will prevail. Indeed,
there is a tremendous difference between the traditions discussed in
Conclusion 233
this study and the comment of a friend of the author, son of one of the
most important ShN <u[ama> of our times, who asserted that the Mahd'i
died at the end ofhis lesser concealment which ended with the death of
his last representative, about 80 years after the Mahd'i's birth. This, of
course, means that the twelfth Imiim was no more than a spiritual
leader of the community, though in hiding, to be sure. His return can
no more be expected than that of any of his predecessors.(This same
friend insists, as do many modern Shj<l <u[amii> and educated people,
that the only lesson we have in the death of l:lusayn is his courage,
piety and self-sacrifice. 4)When the traditions of in.tercession, rewards
for sorrow over his death and the miraculous aspects of his life and
martyrdom are mentioned, such people dismiss them with manifest
embarrassment and even irritation. 'l:lusayn died', a prominent <alim
told me, 'in protest against die hunger of the hungry, the poverty of
the poor and the oppression of the oppressed.' This one-sided
emphasis on the significance of the death of the 'prince of martyrs'
may perhaps provide a basis for unity across the barriers of sectarian
differences and inspiration to meet the needs of today's world with
equanimity and trust, faith and purpose. The lesson derived from this
modern emphasis is more concrete and relevant to our problems now
than the earlier emphasis on abstract sufferings and hopes.
In 1970, Cairo audiences saw a moving drama on the death of
l;Iusayn, l:lusayn the revolutionary hero and great martyr. In the
closing lines of this interpretative play, I:Iusayn appears from across
the centuries (indicated by a dark stage and the suggestion of a ghost-
like appearance) to teach yet another lesson:
Remember me not through the shedding of the blood of others, but

remember me when you seek to save the truth from the claws of
falsehood. Remember me as you struggle in order that justice may
reign over you, remember me in your struggle.... Remember me
when virtue finds itself a stranger and lonely and when vice is
preferred to virtue.... Remember me when courage and fool-
ishness are mingled and confused, and when greed and self-interest
become the sole standard by which friendship is judged....
Remember me in your tears; when the meek and lowly are
oppressed. Remember me when religion is belied by the cries of
234 Conclusion
hungry stomachs and when the corrupt among you are set up in
government over the destiny of the men of faith. Remember me
when the singing of nightingales in your lives would be overcome
by howls of pain and when the soun~ of clinking glasses drowns the
cries of weepers.... When the song ofbrotherhood disappears and
when the poor complain and the pockets of the rich bulge,
remember me.... Remember me when all these things take place
and rise up in the name oflife to lift up high the emblem ofjustice
and truth. Remember my revenge so that you may exact it from
tyrants. In this, life will find its victory. But if you hold your peace
against deception and accept humiliation, then I would be slain
anew. I would be killed every day a thousand times. I would be
killed every time a zealous man is silent or a man of endurance
slackens. I would be killed whenever men are subjugated and
humiliated. I would be killed as long as some Y azid rules over you
and does what he pleases.... Then would the wound of the martyr
forever curse you because you did not avenge the blood of the
L martyr. Avenge the blood of the martyr. 5
Appendices
A. APPENDIX TO CHAPTER 1: 'THE HOUSE OF

SORROWS'
A.l EARLIER PROPHETS
a. On Abraham
God: 0 Abraham, who is the dearest of my creatures to

you?
Abraham: 0 my Lord, there is no one among Thy creatures dearer
to me than Thy beloved MuQ.ammad.
God: Is he dearer to you, or your own self?
Abraham: No, rather he is dearer to me than my own self
God: Are his children dearer to you or your own?
Abraham: No, his children are dearer to me than my own children.
God: Is the slaying ofhis child at the hands of his enemies more
painful to your heart or the slaying of your own child in
obedience to me?
Abraham: 0 Lord, rather the slaying of his child at the hands of his
enemies is more painful to my heart.
God: 0 Abraham, a group of men claiming to be of the com-
munity (ummah) of MuQ.ammad will kill his son f:Iusayn
wrongly after him. He shall be slain like a lamb, and they
shall incur through their action my wrath. 1
Abraham was filled with sorrow and grief and began to weep bitterly.
Then God said to him, '0 Abraham, I have through your grief for
I:Iusayn and his martyrdom ransomed your grief for your own son as
though you had slain him with your own hand, and have granted you
the highest of stations [i.e., in paradise] among those visited with
afflictions (mas.a%).' 'Thus', the sixth Imam concluded, 'God said,
236 Appendices
"And We have ransomed him [Ishmael] with a great sacrificial

victim." ' 2
b. On Moses
An Israelite who believed in Moses, that is, in his prophetic mission,

saw him going to the mountain to converse with God. He asked him
to beg divine forgiveness for a grave sin which he had committed. In
his prayer, Moses asked for forgiveness for that man and received the
call (nidii>), '0 Moses, I forgive anyone who supplicates me except the
murderer of }:lusayn.' Moses asked who }:lusayn was and was told,
' ... he of whom you were informed while standing at the]iinib al- Tur
(the mountain of revelation).' Moses then asked about who }:lusayn's
murderers would be. The answer was as follows:
He shall be killed by the perverse and reprobate community
(ummah) of his grandfather in the land of Karbala>. His horse shall
run away lamenting and neighing, saying, 'Alas, alas, for a com-
munity killing the son of its Prophet's daughter.' }:lusayn shall
remain stretched on the sands without washing or shrouding. His
goods will be pillaged and his womenfolk taken captive. His sup-
porters will be killed and their heads paraded in the lands on the tips
of spears. 0 Moses, their young ones will die of thirst and their old,
their skins will dry up into wrinkles. They shall cry out for help, but
shall find no one to lend them support. a
Hearing this, Moses wept bitterly and asked what the punishment of
their murderers would be. He was answered,
Theirs will be a torment so great that the people of the fire will seek
refuge therefrom in the fire. They shall not receive my mercy nor
the intercession of his grandfather. Were it not for his [J:lusayn's]
sake, I would have caused the earth to swallow them up.
Then God continued,
I have prescribed mercy for his followers among my faithful ser-
vants. Know, moreover, that he who weeps for him or causes others
to weep or even attempts or pretends to weep, I shall render his flesh
inviolate from the fire. 4
Appendices 237
c. On jesus
It is related on the authority of Ibn 1Abbas that when he and 1Ali were
returning from the battle of Siffin, the latter cried out with a loud
voice, '0 Ibn 1Abbas, do you know what place this is?' 'No', he
answered. 1Ali continued, 'Had you kn.own it as I know it, you would
have wept like me.' The two then wept for a long time, after which
1Ali made his ablutions and performed his prayers. He fell asleep under
a tree, and when he awoke he related a dream he had during that

afternoon nap.
He saw men coming down from heaven carrying white flags with
white, shining swords in their hands. They circled the spot once, after
which 1Ali saw the palm tree under which he was sleeping bow down
low touching the ground with its branches. Congealed blood flowed
copiously from it.
1Ali continued relating his dream: 'I can now picture myself seeing
l:lusayn drowning in that blood, crying out for help but with no one to
help him.' Then the men attired in white called out to him, 'Have
patience, 0 family of the Apostle, for you shall be killed at the hands of
the most wicked of men.' They went on addressing I:Iusayn, 'Behold,
0 Abii 1Abdallah, the Garden ofParadise Uannah) is longing for you.'
The men then turned to 1Ali and consoled him, saying ' ... be of good
cheer for God shall make him [I:Iusayn] a consolation for your eyes on
the day when men shall rise up before the Lord of the worlds.' 1Ali
then told Ibn 1Abbas what was to befall his son f:Iusayn, as he himself
had heard it from the Prophet.
1Ali then asked Ibn cAbbas to look for the manure of gazelles, which
was buried under that tree, and which had turned yellow with age. 1Ali
took the manure, smelled it and exclaimed, 'By God, that is it! For
Jesus son of Mary had smelled it before.' Then 1Ali related to Ibn
1Abbas the story of Jesus in the land of Karbalal:
Jesus one day passed with his disciples through Karbalal and on that
spot they saw a group of gazelles gathered together weeping. Jesus
and his disciples sat and wept with them, without the disciples
knowing the reason for that lamentation. Jesus finally told them that
this was a spot on which was to be killed the young descendant
(farkh) of the Apostle Abmad, and child of the pure, unblemished
238 Appendices
virgin (batul) [Fatimah] who is like my mother. He [I:Iusayn] shall

be buried in this spot whose soil ({inah) is more fragrant than musk.
For it is the burial place of the martyr [J:Iusayn]. Such is the soil
containing the bodies of prophets and descendants of prophets.
Jesus then told his disciples that these gazelles had told him that
they had been grazing in that place out of longing for the soil that
was to contain the remains of the 'blessed shoot' of the Prophet
Mubammad. The gazelles told Jesus that they were safe from all
dangers in that place. Jesus then took a few pellets of the gazelles'
manure and smelled them saying, 'Behold the manure of these
gazelles has such sweet odors because of the grass of this place.
Preserve it therefore, 0 Lord, that his [I:Iusayn's] father may also
smell it, so that it may be for him a consolation and a relief'
Then <Ali wept until he fainted. When he regained consciousness, he
gave the manure to Ibn <Abbas, charging him to guard it until it would
turn into congealed blood, a sign for him to know that J:Iusayn had
been killed. Ibn <Abbas always kept the manure in his sleeve. One day
he slept after his noon prayers, and suddenly woke up shaking with
fear as he felt the hot blood gushing out of his sleeve. This, of course,
happened on the tenth ofMubarram, at the exact hour when I:Iusayn
was killed. Other portents were seen and witnessed in Medina, but
these are considered in Chapter 4. 5
A.2 THE HOLY FAMILY
a. On Fii{imah
The following selection is taken from a long discourse attributed to

the Prophet, already cited above.
As for my daughter, Fatimah, she is the mistress of the women of
the worlds, those that were and those that are to come, and she is
part of me. She is the human houri who when she enters her prayer
chamber before God, exalted be He, her light shines to the angels of
heaven as the stars shine to the inhabitants of the earth. Thus when I
saw her I recalled what will be done to her after me. I could see how
Appendices 239
humiliation shall enter her home, her sanctity shall be violated, her
rights usurped, her inheritance denied and her troubles multiplied.
She shall lose her child [through miscarriage], all the while crying
out, '0 my Mubammad', but no one will come to her aid. After me
she will remain sorrowful and grieved and weeping; at times recal-
ling the cessation of revelation (wahl) from her house, at other times
my departure from her. When night comes upon her, she shall feel
lonesome, missing my voice which she was used to hearing as I
recited the Qur>an by night. She shall find herself humiliated after
being loved and well treated during the life of her father. Then God
will console her with angels who will address her with the words he
addressed to Mary, the daughter of(Imran. They will say to her, '0
Fatimah ... God has chosen thee, and purified thee; He has chosen
thee above all women. (Fa~imah) . . . be obedient to thy Lord,
prostrating and bowing before Him. ' 6
Then her pains will commence and she will fall ill. God will send
to her Mary daughter of (Imran, to nurse and console her in her
sickness. She shall then say, '0 Lord, I truly despise this life and have
become troubled with the people of this world; let me therefore
depart to my father.' Thus she will be the first to come to me from
my family. She will come to me sorrowful and heavy with grief,
persecuted and martyred. Then will I say, '0 God, curse those who
wrong her, punish those who persecuted her, humiliate those who
humiliated her, and consign eternally into Thy fire him who hit her
side so that she lost her child.' Then the angels wili reply: Amen. 7
b. On the Holy Family and the Bedouin convert

A Bedouin of one of the tribes in the neighborhood of Medina came to
the Prophet who was sitting with his companions, reviling him and
calling him a magician and a liar. He had hidden in his sleeve a small
lizard (t/abb) which he had caught in the desert. He let the animal go
and the Prophet called it to him, asking it, 'Do you know who I am?'
The animal answered, 'You are Mubammad, the Apostle of God.' In
astonishment and recognition of the Prophet's claims and forbearance,
the Bedouin embraced Islam. But he was poor and hungry and none of
the companions had anything to give him to eat. Confident of
240 Appendices
Fa~imah's generosity and compassion, the Prophet sent Salman, the

Persian, to her seeking food for the hungry man. She had nothing but
her own clothes, so she sent her cloak to be pawned with Simon the
Jew for a bushel of barley and a tray of dates. She baked the barley,
after grinding it with her own hands, and sent the bread and dates to
feed the new Muslim. Withjoy the Prophet came to her, but found her
pale with hunger and her two children, J:Iasan and J:Iusayn, asleep,
trembling like slaughtered birds from hunger as no one in the house of
<Ali had tasted anything for three days. The Prophet saw this and his
eyes were filled with tears, and he did not know what to do.
Fatimah then entered her chamber and prayed a few rak<ahs,K after
which she invoked God saying, '0 Lord, send to us a banquet (mii>idah)
from heaven as Thou hadst sent"it to the children of Israel. They
disbelieved it, yet will we be in it believers. ' 9 As she finished her
prayer, a banquet was sent from heaven and they all ate. The Prophet,
with joy and gratitude, exclaimed, 'Thanks be to God who had
granted me a child like Mary who, ... whenever Zechariah went in to
her in the Sanctuary, he found her provisioned. "Mary", he said,
"How comes this to thee?" "From God", she said. ' 10
c. On the Holy Family and the 1."wrn tree

The Prophet visited one day the quarters of a tribe near Medina which
had not yet entered into the Muslim community. Some versions of
this tradition say that he was with his family and that tbey had a meal
together, reminiscent of the people of the cloak tradition and some-
times including it. 11 After the meal, the Prophet washed his hands and
mouth for prayers and expectorated the water from his mouth onto a
thorn tree near the tent ofhis hosts. The next day the thorn tree began
to grow and bear leaves, and soon became a great fruitful tree. Its fruits
tasted like honey and had a fragrance like musk. They were satisfying
food for the hungry, and its leaves were medicine for the sick. After
the death of the Prophet its fruits began to decrease, and thus it
continued after the death of his daughter. The fruits totally dis-
appeared with the death of<Ali:. Yet the leaves remained a cure for the
sick all around Medina, and a source of blessi.ng for all people. They
begap, however, to wither away and fall after the death ofl;lasan. The
Appendices 241
tree itself finally dried up and died with the death ofi;Iusayn. On the
day he died (that is, the day of<Ashura\ its bark emitted streams of
blood, to the astonishment of everyone. The people knew that this
was a sign of a great calamity. Soon after, the tree disappeared and not
even a trace of it was to be seen. 12
B. APPENDIX TO CHAPTER 3: 'THE MASTER OF

THE YOUTHS OF PARADISE'
B.l DiscouRsEs OF Imam I;IusAYN
In a long sermon which he delivered in Medina before his journey to

Iraq, I;Iusayn first recounted the great benefits the community had
received through Islam. He reminded his listeners of the duties and
obligations which God had laid upon them and which they had
neglected: they had not shown mercy to the weal<:; they had indulged
in wrongdoings; and they continued to prefer this world to the next, as
though it were their eternal abode. Then he spoke of his own claims to
leadership and his motives in seeking it:
0 God Thou knowest that we did not seek, in that which we have
done, the acquisition of power, or the possession of the remains of
ephemeral wealth. Rather we seek to manifest the truths of Thy
religion and establish the right in Thy lands; so that the wrong
among Thy servants may be vindicated, and that men may abide
by the ordinances (fara>iq), paths (sunan) and Thy judgments
(ahkiim). If therefore you [men] would deal with us justly and lend
us your support it shall be to your good. For behold wrongdoers
have prevailed over you, and they seek to extinguish the light of
your Prophet. It is to God that we go for help, in Him we trust, to
Him we refer judgment and to Him shall be our return. 13
On his way to Karbala>, I;Iusayn met the famous poet, al-Farazdaq,
just outside Mecca. He asked the poet about the situation in Kiifah, and
was told that while the hearts of men were with him, their swords
were with the Umayyads. I;Iusayn recited the following verses in
answer to the poet's advice not to go to Iraq. 14
242 Appendices
If the world be counted a thing precious, sti~l the abode of God's

reward [that is, paradise] is higher and more noble. And ifbodies be
made for death, then the death of a man by the sword in the way of
God is the better choice. And if men's provisions be allotted by
divine decree, then it is more worthy of a man not to run after
worldly gain. And if wealth be gathered in order to be finally left
behind, why should a man be tight-fisted with that which he would
have to abandon: 15
The following little sermon l;:lusayn delivered to his companions on

the way to Karbala>, when he had learned of the treachery of the
Kiifans, won over by Ibn Ziyad by bribes and threats:
Behold this world had changed and taken on a false character. Its
goodness has disappeared so that there is no more left of it than a
drop of stagnant water in a large vessel, or the scant grass of a poor
pasture. Do you not see that righteousness is not sought after, and
falsehood is not abandoned. Let the man of faith therefore seek the
company of his Lord in truth. For I see death as a state of bliss and
life with the wrongdoers as a heavy "burden. Verily men are the
slaves of wealth, and religion is no more than words upon their lips
which they rumiQate. They profess it as long as their life provisions
flow, but when tried with afflictions, the number of the men offaith
is diminished. 16
Shortly before reaching Karbala>, after learning of the death of his
cousin Muslim, I;Iusayn sent a letter to the Kiifans with his brother in
nursing: 17
Furthermore, woe to you 0 men for your loss; when you cried to us
in fear we answered you with all haste. But you unsheathed a sword
against us which was in our own right hand. You have kindled
against us a fire which we spark against our enemy and yours. Thus
you turned against your friends and became a strong arm for your
enemies. You did this not because they established justice among
you, nor that you had any such hope in them. Nor have we done
you any wrong, or have wavered in our resolve. Yours then shall be
great woes. You have abandoned [your allegiance] when the sword
has not yet been wielded, your resolve shaken "and your opinion
Appendices 243
mistaken. At first you hastened to it [that is, allegiance to him] like

flies, and then ran away as would butterflies. Fie on you and male-
diction on the sa tans of this community, the unfaithful partisans and
abandoners of the Book, those who ... distort their words, and
oppose the practices (sunan) by adopting illegitimate children into
their families. 111
... by God, it is a treachery well known among you, for in it you
were born and grew up.... May God's curse be upon those who
revoke their oaths after asserting them, for God shall be their
witness. Behold the usurper, the son of a pretender [Yazld], has
sought to force one of two alternatives from us: either strife or
humiliation. But far be it from us to accept humiliation, neither God
nor the faithful would wish that for us. Ours are pure abodes [the
reference here is to his lineage on both sides] and uplifted heads
[literally, noses] and resolute hearts to prefer obedience to dissolute
men (li 1iim) over the death of noble men. Thus I shall rush upon
them with this small following in spite of the fierceness of
the enemy, their large numbers, and abandonment of those
who pledged their support. ... in God your Lord and mine I
trust. l!l
B.2 SHORT SAYINGS OF Imam I:IusAYN
He said one day to a man who was indulging in gossip against another,
'0 man, cease your backbiting, for backbiting is the nourishment of
the dogs of the fire [hell].'
A man said to him, 'A good deed done to an undeserving man is lost.'
He answered, 'No not so, rather a good deed is like the pouring of rain:
it falls on the righteous as well as the wicked.'
He once said, describing the difference of worship and motives for it,
'There are those who worship God only in fear [i.e., ofHell], and that
is the worship of slaves; there are those who worship God in covet-
ousness [i.e., of Paradise] and that is the worship of merchants; but
there are those who worship God in thankfulness and this is the
worship of free men; it is the best of worship. ' 20
244 Appendices
B.3 PRAYERS AND MEDITATIONs OF Imam I:IusAYN
The following two prayers attributed to I:Iusayn are warm with the
glow of piety and genuine mystical love of God. One day he was heard
by Sharib, one of the companions of the Prophet, praying thus after
offering his obligatory prayers in the mosque of Medina.
My Lord and Master, is it for the instruments of torture in hell that
Thou hast created my members and hast Thou made my entrails to
be filled with thehamlm [the boiling waters ofhell]. My God ifThou
wouldst require of me reckoning for my sins, I would request of
Thee magnanimity. If Thou wouldst imprison me with the trans-
gressors, I would tell them of my love for Thee. My Lord, as for my
obedience to Thee it can benefit Thee not; and as for my dis-
obedience, it can do Thee no harm. Grant me therefore I pray
that which benefits Thee not, and forgive me that which doth Thee
no harm, for Thou art the most Merciful. 21
The following selection is a truly mystical colloquy between man, the

friend (walO of God, and his Lord. It shows at one and the same time
the humility of the servant in worship and the intimate love which the
Lord has for him. One day I:Iusayn passed with Malik Ibn Anas, a
famous companion, by the tomb ofKhadijah, the Prophet's first wife
and I;Iusayn's grandmother. I:Iusayn began to weep and asked Malik
to leave him alone for awhile. After long prayers, Malik heard him
praying:
My Lord, 0 my Lord Thou art my Master. Have mercy therefore
on a servant who seeks refuge in Thee. On Thee, 0 most High, is
my reliance, blessed is he whose Master Thou art. Blessed is he who
is a vigilant servant bringing all his troubles before Thee Lord of
majesty alone. Where in him there would be neither disease nor
sickness, rather only his love for his Master. When he complains of
his trouble and tightness of throat [with tears], God would answer
him and remove his sorrow. When in darkness he comes in supplica-
tion, God would grant him His favors and draw him nigh. Then he
shall be addressed 'Lo, I hear the labbayka 0 my servant, for thou art
in my bosom ( kanaf) and all that thou didst say We have heard. Thy
Appendices 245
voice delights my angels, behold We have heard thy voice. Thy

invocations arc before me moving behind veils [of lightl behold
We have removed the curtains for thee.... ask me therefore with-
out fear or hesitation, or any reckoning, for I am God. ' 22
C. APPENDIX TO CHAPTER 4: 'THE WRONGED

MARTYR'
CONCERNING l:IUSAYN'S ASCENSION TO HEAVEN
The text from which this appendix is taken was first published by the
Catholic Press in Beirut, Lebanon, under the titleal-Haft w-al-A~illah.
The present edition was published under another title, al-Haft al-
Sharif, 23 dealing with the virtues of the sixth Imam, Ja<far al-Sadiq, and
attributed to one of the Imam's most important disciples, al-Mufac;lc;lal
Ibn <umar al-Ju<fi.
The earlier Catholic Press edition considered the text as a medieval
Isma(ili document. But the editor of the present edition, Mu~tara
Ghalib, who is an Ismii(lll himself, spends much time in the intro-
duction refuting this attribution and atttributing the text instead to the
Nu~ayri Shl<; sect. There is, as we shall see below, some textual
evidence for Ghalib's claim in the frequent references to al-Qa'im, the
expected Mahdi of the Twelver and N u~ayri Shi('i sects. We give below
some selections from chapters 38 through 40, concerning the killing of
an imam and the killing ofi:Iusayn considered from the esoteric point
of view.
Chapter 38. 'Concerning the Knowledge of the Killing of an Imam'

Said al-Mufac;lc;lal, 'I said to my master, al-Sadiq, tell me about the
killing of the Imam and how can that happen. He smiled showing his
teeth and said, "Perhaps you mean the killing of l;Iusayn and the
way he was slain and the death of the Prince of the Faithful [<Ali] and
the death ofZakariyyah [Zechariah] and Yal:tya Qohn the Baptist]
and Jesus" ... [al-Sadiq continued], These are, 0 Mufac;lc;lal, the
pure ones of God, His friends (awli"ya') and elect. You [people]
246 Appendices
im~gine them to have tasted the pain of the sharp steel at the hands
of their enemies. But this is only outwardly ifi al-;<;iihir) so that the
proof, or contention (hujjah) of God may be established against
them. 24 But that they could be actually killed, that cannot be as God
preserves His friends and elect." ' 25
Chapter 39. 'Concerning the Esoteric Knowledge of the Death of ljusayn'

Said al-Mufaddal, 'I asked our master al-Sadiq, may his peace be
upon us, concerning God saying, "And We ransomed him [Isma<il]
with a mighty sacrifice. " 26 Al-Sadiq replied "I::Iasan, during the
time of Abraham, was Isaac, and I;lusayn, Ishmael." Then I said, "0
master, tell me about the story of Jesus." He answered, "Do you
consider Jesus to be greater with God than all the apostles, prophets,
and all the pure vicegerents? Nay, rather it is that if God wishes to
manifest something, He manifests it only in part, so that it may be
possible to discover through the outwardly manifest, the inward
and hidden, and so that through the part, the whole may be dis-
covered. Thus men would not wax arrogant against God's power
which shall never cease from prophets, vicegerents and elect ones.
I;Iusayn, son of <Ali, therefore, is more exalted with God than to
cause him to test the pains of the iron [sword] at the hands of
unbelievers. Far be it from God to do that, for His grace and
providential decrees would suffice for His friends, protecting them
and destroying their enemies and His with the inexorable proof.
... Thus God acted with f::lusayn in a way He did not with Jesus,
Zechariah or John the Baptist, or with any other of the prophets. For
the slaying outwardly was meant for Ishmael who was ransomed by
a great sacrifice. I;lusayn was he [Ishmael] himself in his lineage and
identity, no difference between the two, for they are one. He was not,
as the people of unbelief imagine, slain a thousand times. 27 Rather
f::lusayn is like Jesus, as it is written ... 'and for their saying "We
slew the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, the Messenger of God", yet
they did not slay him, neither crucified him, only a likeness of that
was shown to them. Those who are at variance concerning him
surely a~e in doubt regarding him: they have no knowledge of him
except the following of surmise; and they slew him not of cer-
Appendices 247
tainty, no indeed, God raised him up to Him. ' 28 This is the way
in which Prophets and friends [of God] and vicegerents should
be considered to have been killed, and God does whatever He
wills.
Then the Imiim asked about the exegesis of the verses 29 concerning the
ransom of Ishmael according to the opinion of non-Sht<ls. They
believe that a ram was sent from paradise to ransom Ishmael; the sixth
Imiim objected, saying that God would never allow a creature made for
paradise to be killed without a sin, for He is a just God: thus this view is
an error (kufr). Then he asks al-Mufa<;l<;lal who was the greater, the
ransomed one or the ransoming victim, and answers his own question
by stating that greatness is predicated of the ransoming victim. We
saw earlier that l:lusayn was identified with Ishmael, and here he is
identified with the paradisial ram; pence, the ransomed one, the ran-
soming victim and real ransom are one.
. . . If people were to know of that great victim, their wonderment

would never cease and their minds would be deranged, and their
unbelief and enmity towards God and His Apostle would
increase.... 0 Mufa<;l<;lal the ram that was brought as ransom was
I:Iusayn, then called at that time al-Adlam, the Adlam of Quraysh.
He was at that time an old man in the form of a ram ....
The Imiim asked al-Mufa<;l<;lal about the opinion of the ShN com-
munity. 'They believe', al-Mufa<;l<;lal said, 'that Isaac was I:Iasan and
Ishmael I:Jusayn.' The sixthlmiim approved, saying, ... 'They tell the
truth, for I:Jusayn is more exalted before God than to be slain. But men
do not know the status of the friends of God [with Him]. Our Sht<ah,
however, learn esoteric knowledge from us, which is the knowledge
of God, His vicegerents and Apostle Mubammad, and transmitted to
their faithful brethren.' ... al-Mufa<;l<;lal said, '0 master you have
healed me and have taken away from me all the sorrow and care.'
Al-Sadiq replied, 'God is truly a healing for that which is in the breasts
and the esoteric (bii(in) is a healing for breasts.... 'Then al-Sadiq said,
'I have told you of the story of the slaying of the ram, would you wish
me to tell you the story of those who gathered to kill I:Iusayn?' 'Yes', I
answered.
248 Appendices
Chapter 40. 'Concerning the Esoteric Knowledge of the Death of Ijusayn

During the Time of the Umayyads' 30
Said al-Mufaddal, 'Tell me, 0 master, concerning J:Iusayn, how it
seemed to men that they killed him as it seemed before to them
concerning the killing of Jesus.' Al-Sadiq said, 'This is one of the
secrets of God which He made hidden from men, making it known
only to the faithful of His servants, the elect ones. For the Imiim
enters into bodies as he chooses and leaves them as he chooses, as
one would remove his cloak or shirt, without any fear or doubt. As
they gathered to slay I:Iusayn, he left his body and God lifted him up
to Him. Thus God prevented enemies from catching him....
When I:Iusayn left for Iraq, and God was hidden (muhtajib) in him,
whenever he stopped on his journey, Gabriel came and conversed
with him. On the day the soldiers were gathered against him and the
war began, J:Iusayn called Gabriel and asked, "0 My brother Gab-
riel, who am I?" Gabriel answered, "You are God other than whom
there is no God, the Living, the Eternal, He the one who causes to
die and makes alive. 31 You are the one who can order the heavens and
they would obey You; the earth and it would be subject to Your
command; the mountains, and they would execute Your orders;
the seas, and they would hasten to Your obedience. You are He to
whom neither the plotting of a plotter would touch, nor the hurt of
a hurter." J:Iusayn said, "0 Gabriel ... do you see these miserable
creatures ignorantly seeking to kill their master, but they will not
reach me, nor any other of the friends of God.... " Then J:Iusayn
said, "0 Gabriel, go to that accursed and ignorant one [Ibn Sa<d] and
ask him whom does he wish to fight against?"'
Gabriel went to Ibn Sa<d who was sitting among his generals, the scene
more like a royal court than a battlefield. The angel put the question to
him, and Ibn Sa<d declared that he had to kill J:Iusayn in obedience to
the commands ofibn Ziyad. Gabriel replied, 'Woe to you, would you
kill the Lord of the worlds, the God of all men, the Creator of the
heavens and the earth and what is between them?' Afraid, Ibn Sa<d
ordered his generals to capture him, but Gabriel spat on them and they
fell down on their faces. When Ibn Sa<d and his men awoke, he was
.exceedingly afraid and said to them, 'Have you seen the like of this
Appendices 24S
before?' They answered in the negative; one man among them reas-
sured him that this was only the magic which f:Iusayn learned from his
father, <Ali. Then Ibn Sa<d shot an arrow in the direction ofi::Iusayn's
camp and ordered his army to begin the fighting. The Imam then
returned to his story and said:
When the soldiers surrounded I::Iusayn, he called Gabriel, Michael
and Israfil, and they answered 'Here we are (labbayk) 0 our Lord.'
He ordered them, 'Lift me up in the air.' Thus they lifted I::Iusayn
and his servant Gabriel. ... The sixth Imam turned to his disciple
and said, '0 Mufa<;ldal, you have been granted much good, for you
have received esoteric knowledge. Beware that you keep the secret
of God hidden. Disclose it only to a sincere friend (wali). For if you
were to disclose it to our enemies, you would help in the destruction
of your own soul.' As al-Mufaddal showed his surprise that such
wonderful things should be hidden from men, the sixth Imam
concluded, 'Yes, for God wished to be worshipped in secret.'
D. APPENDIX TO CHAPTER 5: 'THE SIGH OF THE

SORROWFUL'
D.l EXAMPLES OF PERSIAN marathi
Persian poetry dealing with the tragedy ofKarbala> exhibits an emo-

tional intensity, poetic exaggeration and freedom of expression
unparalleled in its Arabic counterpart.) We shall illustrate in the fol-
lowing three selections32 first the emphasis on the superiority of
Karbala> over the Ka<bah, already discussed in Chapter 5 above. Sec-
ondly, within the same context, we shall observe how the martyr of
KarbaW excels all other men in nobility and spiritual gifts, a theme
exaggerated to the point of deifying the martyred Imam. Finally, we
shall quote the famous marthiyah or elegy often chanted in the Mubar-
ram celebrations, illustrating the fascinating theme of erotic love
(<ishq) of the devotees for the Imam. This theme of mad love has given
Persian poetry a unique character of emotional fervor and mystical
longing.
250 Appendices
a. 'The Shrine of the Martrys', by Fayiz I~fahani
If the Ka<bah is, due to its great honor, thcqiblah of the people of pure
faith, the valley ofkarb [sorrow] and balii >[calamity], i.e. Karbala>, is
I the descending place of the divine lights. That it [Karbala>] boasts in

'honor over the Ka<bah is not too strange, for in its courts the light of
God shines most splendidly. If men of this world turn their faces
' toward the Ka<bah, the Ka<bah itself has turned its face of devotion
(iriidat) towards Karbala>. The blood of the elect of God was shed in
this realm, it may be said therefore that its soil was mixed with the
blood of God. To this desert of afflictions, he, the king [I:Iusayn]
himself, made pilgrimage so that you may know that the real Ka<bah
is here.... The Ka<bah is the house of God, but this [Karbala>] is the
source of divine lights. Do you not see the great distinction between
the two ... _a:l
b. 'May my soul be a ransom for you: you who are both the qiblah and the
guide to the qiblah'
0 I:Iusayn, you arc the martyr of the cruelty (sitam) of the people of
treachery. You are the blood of God and son of the blood ofGod. 34
Perhaps the sense intended here is the blood for which God would
exact revenge, the blood belonging to God, and not God's own blood.
You were brought up on <Ali's shoulder, in the lap of Al-Zahra>, and
you were the adornment of the bosom of the Apostle of the two
realms. On the soil of your land all creatures have prostrated them-
selves; may my soul be your ransom, you who are the qiblah and
guide to the qiblah. By God, you arc the friend (khalll) [i.e.
Abraham]; by God you.are the great sacrifice (dhab'ih ), [i.e. Ishmael];
by God you ar_.e the haram (Ka!bah), Sara and Mina.
Al-Sata and Mina are the two important stages of the hajj ritual around
Mecca.
. . . enemies severed your head with its dry lips from your noble
body, although you are both khi4r and the water of life.
This verse alludes to the myth of the khiqr (green prophet), who found
the spring of the water of life and continues to live forever.
Appendices 251
Your griefhas burned the hearts of men,jinn and angels; for you are
the source of pain and sorrow for the creatures of earth although
you are celestial. How could we not be mindful of you, when you in
your compassion under the blade and with your last breath were
mindful of our sorrowful plight.
c. 'This lfusayn, who is he that the entire world is mad with loveforhim?'
The title is a hypothetical question to which thismarth'iyah is an answer.
This is the }::lusayn whose beloved is the eternal truth (al-haqq), and
the ocean of infallibility (<i~mah) is but the shell ofhis unique pearl.
This is the one who is the candle burning in the chamber of waliiyah
[metaphorically used to refer to the imamate of the imams], the one
in whose love the candle of the court (iwiin) of creation burns like a
moth. At times, like the verse of mercy and at other times like the
seal of prophethood, he sat on the shoulders of the Prophet. This is
the king at the threshold of whose palace the faithful spirit [Gabriel]
with multitudes of angels stood as beggars for the whole night. This
is the one who in the banquet of purity lost this chess game of
fidelity, yet the universal intellect was checkmated by the rook of
his regal game. This is the drinker of the wine goblet with whose cry
of intoxication the ears of the ninth sphere, from eternity to eternity,
are filled. This is the wine drinker whose cup the eternal siiq'i-cup
bearer [i.e., God] has filled with all the pain, sorrow, poison and
suffering He had. In this world whosoever is a wandering poor one
(qalandar), drinker of the wine of purjty, drains only the cup of the
dregs ofhis [I;:Iusayn's] tavern. This is he who has become a legend
in the plane of beauty among the people of beauty, the one with
whose legend the ears of the heavens arc filled. 0 Zawqi [the poet's
name] although the mirror of God has no place, yet at times our
devastated hearts may be the place wherein it dwells. 35
0.2 A Ta<z'iyah Majlis
The following selections are taken from a recording of a series oflive

majalis given by Sayyid Na~ralHih, a famous Iraqi na>ih (lamentation
252 Appendices
reader). The tape was made from records pressed in Lebanon which
are not available here for fuller description. The majiilis were hel.d, it
seems, during the <Ashurii> period. While the story of I:Iusayn's jour-
ney and the subsequent events of<.Ashurii> form the core of each majlis
in chronological order, every majlis begins with a picture ofl:lusayn or
one of his sons or brothers at the point of death before picking up the
story at an intended point. Some dialogue or colloquy is introduced for
dramatic effect, and often historical accounts are highly embellished,
again to dramatize the event and integrate it into the total panorama of
the tragedy. The majlis we shall cite here deals with the beginning of
the journey from Mecca to Karbala>. l:lusayn is informed ofthe death
of Muslim, and a daughter of the latter is introduced to mourn her
father with Sukaynah, l:lusayn's young daughter. The latter first
appears in a playful mood, which suddenly changes as she is told the
sad news.
'the chanter begins the majlis with the following set formula:
Peace be upon you, 0 master, 0 Apostle of God, the elect of God
from among His creatures. Peace be upon you and upon the people
of your household, the good and pure ones, the wronged and scat-
tered ones. 0 Abu <Abdallah [l:lusayn] you who are in a strange land
(gharib) would that I were with you that I may achieve great victory.
The majlis begins with a moving call for weeping put in the mouth of
the martyred Imiim himself, followed by a response of the community
(Shi<ah) of the imiims affirming its continuous sorrow for the great
calamities of ahl al-bayt.
0 my Shl<ah, do not abandon the pilgrimage to my tomb, for
frequenting it is the best means of achieving nearness [to God and
the imiims]. And, whenever you drink cool water remember me,
thirsty at the banks of the Euphrates at my death. Pour out for me
your tears wherever you may be, for I am the one killed for the
shedding of tears and emitting sighs of grie
The response follows in very colloquial language.

Your followers [Shl<ah], 0 I:Iusayn, offer their tears to you. They
weep with hearts burning as if on coals. Your followers (Shi<ah)
Appendices 253
have abandoned sleep, regarding it as a thing prohibited. How could

they sleep on those nights which filled for you their cup of
afflictions. Your Shi1ah, 0 I;Iusayn, have donned for you their
clothes of mourning. Instead of their garments they rent their
hearts. For it was the wish of your Shi 1ah, 0 I;Iusayn, to protect
you with their hearts [muhaj, plural of muhjah] from the sharp
lances.
The majlis goes on to relate I;Iusayn's departure from Mecca in the
manner of a colorful traditional Arabian tale. The style is extremely
simple and repetitive in order for the participants to absorb fully the
atmosphere. The point is heavily stressed that I;Iusayn had no choice
but to leave Mecca, even without completing his hajj.
They asked him, saying, '0 son of the Apostle of God, what has
made you leave in such haste before completing your hajj?' He
answered, 'I was afraid that the sanctity of this house [the Ka 1bah]
may be violated through me. for the accused Y azid sent thirty
men of sa tans of the sons of U mayyah and said to them "Kill
I;Iusayn even if you find him g~asping the veils (astiir) of the
Ka 1bah."'
The death of Muslim is then narrated by two men who heard it from
an eyewitness who saw the corpses of Muslim and Hani b. 1Urwah
dragged in the marketplace and saw a crier announcing, 'This is the
punishment of anyone opposing the Amir Ibn Ziyad.' I;Iusayn called
Muslim's daughter, seated her in his lap and began to pass his hand
over her head as was the custom to do with orphans. The narrator adds
that the girl, when she heard the news of her father's death, wept not
for him but rather for being orphaned yet a second time by the death of
I;:lusayn who was like a father to her. The narrator then imagines
Sukaynah throwing herself over her father's dead corpse after the
battle and crying out, '0 father, when night comes who shall shelter
our orphans?' The majlis ends with another folk dirge for I;Iusayn,
who died thirsty and totally abandoned. The chanter concludes with a
few petitions of prayer and salutations of peace to the Imiim, and a
recitation of the Fiitihah, the opening siirah of the Qur>an, on behalf of
the departed souls of the faithful.
254 Appendices
0.3 A Zlyiirah ATTRIBUTED TO THE TWELFTH lmiim DURING HIS

OccULTATION (ghaybah)
The ziyiirah chosen for this appendix is an important one in many

ways. First of all it is attributed to the twelfth Imam, the awaitedhujjah,
proof or witness of God. Traditionally it is referred to as 'the ziyiirah
preceding from the sacred quarter (al-ziyarah al-atiyah min al-nahiyah
al-muqaddasah)'. It is supposed to be performed at the tomb ofl;Iusayn
on the day of (AshUra>. However, Majlisi questions its designation by
al-Sayyid al-Murta~a specifically for that day. 36 The text is a master-
piece of Arabic rhetoric. It is in rhymed prose, making it virtually
impossible to reproduce in another language without losing much of
its power of expression and artistic beauty. Because of its length and
repetitiveness, we shall not give an entire translation, but rather
choose some parts which in our view express well its major ideas or
concepts and summarize the rest. As will be seen, this ziyarah tells the
whole story of the martyrdom oflmam I:Iusayn, and alludes to most of
the important hagiographical interpretations that have grown around
it. It seems to be of a late authorship (at least fourth century), as it is not
included in the earliest standard collection of ziyiirah texts by Ibn
Qawlawayh (Kiimil al-Ziyarat), or any other collection beforeal-Maziir
al-Kabir of al-Murta~a. Majlisi, moreover, hints at the possibility that
al-Sayyid al-Murta~a may have been responsible for at least some
parts ofthisziyarah. It is more probable that he was responsible for the
entire text as we have it, relying on some older rescension or at least a
tradition of such a zlyiirah.
This ziyiirah shows in a striking way the continuity of the imams
with the ancient prophets. While most ziyarah texts asserting this
continuity begin with the salutation of peace to the imams as heirs of
the prophets, this text begins with the prophets, from Adam to
Mubammad, and goes on to the imams, reciting an epithet for each
prophet or imam after the salutation. Each sentence addressing a
prophet or imiim begins with 'al-saliimu <a[ayka yii ... ', then the name
follows.
Peace be upon you 0 Adam, the chosen one (~afwah) of God from
among His creatures ... Peace be upon Seth the friend (wali) of God
Appendices 255
and his elect one (khirah) . .. Peace be upon Idris [Enoch] who rose
up to uphold the hujjah of God.... Peace be upon Noah whose
prayers were a1;1swered by God ... Peace be upon Hiid, who was
aided by God with His own power37 Peace be upon Salil). whom
God crowned with His favo~ 8 . Peace be upon Abraham who was
favored by God with His friendship (khillah) ... Peace be upon
Ishmael, whom God ransomed with a great sacrificial victim from
His paradise:~" ... Peace be upon Isaac in whose progeny God
continued the prophethood ... Peace be upon Jacob to whom God
returned his sight by His mercy.... Peace be upon Joseph whom
God saved from the well by His great power ... Peace be upon
Moses for whom God split the sea by His might ... Peace be upon
Aaron whom God favored with the gift of prophethood 40 Peace
be upon Jethro (Shu 1ayb) whom God rendered victorious over his
community ... Peace be upon David whom God had forgiven his
sin ... Peace be upon Solomon to whose greatness the jinn were
subjected41 Peace be upon Job whom God healed from his
disease ... Peace be upon Jonah (Yiinus), for whom God fulfilled
His promise42 Peace be upon Ezra (1Uzayr) whom God resus-
citated after his long death ... Peace be upon Zechariah who was
patient with his trials (mihnah) 43 Peace be upon John the Baptist
whom God favored with his martyrdom 44 Peace be upon Jesus
the spirit of God and His word 45 Peace be upon Mul).ammad,
the beloved or'God and His chosen one (s.afwah ).
Then the zfyiirah addresses the five people of the Holy Family (ahl
al-bayt): 1Ali as the brother of the Prophet, Fatimah, his daughter,
I:Iasan as the vicegerent (was. f) of God and His representative (khalifah ).
Then at great length the virtues and sufferings of I:Iusayn are
recounted, as well as those of his family.
Peace be upon I:Iusayn, who willingly sacrificed his life. He obeyed
God in his innermost secret and openly in his actions. Thus God
made healing to be in his earth, and the answering of prayers
beneath his dome. Peace be upon him in whose progeny God has
deposited the imamate.
The spirituallineage of the Imam is here presented as coeval with his
physical descent. He is ' ... the son of Htimah al-Zahra>, Khadijah
256 Appendices
al-Kubra [the venerable one], the heavenly lote tree (sidrat al-
muntaha), 46 the garden of refuge'. 47 The Imam is then declared to be the
son of the holy objects of the hajj pilgrimage: the well ofZemen, Sata
and Mina. Addressing the entire family of martyrs, the text goes on,
Peace be upon the loci of God's signs [or proofs (barahln)], the imams
oflordship; those whose garments were stained with blood, whose
lips withered with thirst, whose bodies were left naked on the
ground, whose blood was shed and whose limbs were cut off. Peace
be upon those who were buried without shrouds, who were forced
out oftheir homes; those whose heads were severed from their bodies.
The text then returns to the [mam himself. His divine favors and
virtues are intermingled with his sorrows and sufferings.
Peace be upon him who was patient, relying only upori God, him
who was wronged with no one to lend him support. Peace be upon
him whom the Lord of majesty purified, of whom Gabriel boasted
in heaven, and with whom Michael played while in the cradle. Peace
be upon him whose covenant was revoked, whose sanctity violated
and whose blood wrongly shed.
After this all the major events ofKarbaJa> are mentioned or alluded' to
in the most moving and powerful language. After recounting the
wrongs suffered by the Imam, the pilgrim offers his own loyalty and
love as he testifies to the Imam's uprightness and piety.
I bear witness that you have performed the prayers (~alat) and
rendered the obligatory alms (zakat) and enjoined men to do good
(macrilfJ and dissuaded them from the bad (munkar) and acts of
treachery (-udwan). I bear witness that you obeyed God ... sought
protection in Him and held fast to His rope. Thus you pleased Him,
feared Him, were cognizant of Him and answered His call. I bear
witness that you established good practices (sunan) and extin-
guished seditions: you called men to the right and made clear the
straight paths and struggled in the way of truth, performing the best
jihad.
The pilgrim attests to the fact that f:lusayn followed in the footsteps of
the Prophet, his grandfather, and executed well the trust from the
imamate which he inherited from his father and brother; that he
upheld the pillars of religion, fulfilled the injunctions of the Qur 1an
and was a true support of the Muslim community (ummah ). The Imiim
is depicted as an example of true ascetic detachment from this world,
seeking only the next. It is in this attitude of ascetic detachment that his
struggle with the Umayyad authorities is depicted.
Thus when tyranny spread its might, and wrongdoing unveiled
its face and corruption gathered its followers, you left the sacred
precincts (haram) of your grandfather and rose up against the
wrongdoers.
The lmiim is shown to have fought not for the sake of power or in
rashness, but rather when good counsel, his first recourse, failed and
he had no choice but to fight. He of course fought valiantly, wielding
the legendary sword of his father <Ali, dhii al-fiqiir (the cleaver of
vertebrae). Yet his exemplary courage must stand side by side with his
agonized sufferings .
. . . Then your forehead showed the signs of death, and your right
and left limbs stretched and contracted, each in turn. You cast a
hidden glance at your tents, but were occupied with your own
pains, unable to show any care for your family and children. Your
horse ran to your tents weeping and neighing. When the women
saw your mount without a rider and your stirrup empty, they
rushed out from their chambers, their hair disheveled over their
cheeks, beating their unveiled faces and crying out with woes....
They ran to behold your death, while Shimr sat on your chest,
putting his sword to your neck with one hand, and grasping with the
other your grey beard.... Woe therefore to the reprobate rebels,
for in killing you they killed the religion of Islam and annulled
prayers (s.aliit) and fasting (s.lyiim). They abolished the good practices
(sunan) and religious principles (ahkiim). They demolished the foun-
dations of faith (imiin) and distorted the verses of the Qur>an.
Through your loss were lost the cries oftakb'ir [cries of alliihu akbar,
the call to prayer] and tahl'il [cries of Hallelujah], tahrlm and tahlil
[principles of prohibition and sanction], and tanz'il and ta>wil [the
principles of revelation and right exegesis]. After you, change
258 Appendices
(taghyir) and distortion (tabdll), atheism (ilhiid) and annulment (ta 1(fl)
[of the principles of religion], whims and going astray, and seditions
and falsehoods. appeared.
Having portrayed this grim picture of chaos and complete dis-
integration of all ideals, the zlyiirah goes on to show the effect of the
tragedy in the heavenly realms.
Angels and prophets offered the Apostle [MuQ.ammad] their con-
dolences for your death. Your mother the radiant one (al-Zahrii>)
raised the dirge for you. Hosts of angels came to console your father
the prince of the believers, and mourning sessions (ma>iitim) were
held for you in the highest realms. In grief for you the black-eyed
houris beat their faces. For you wept the heavens and all their
denizens, the gardens of paradise and their keepers ... And the seas
with their whales ... For you wept the sacred house and the corner
(maqiim ), the sacred stone and the rights of sanctification and release
therefrom (al-hill wa-1-ihriim).
The ziyiirah ends with a supplicatory prayer (du 1a>). 48
Notes
NOTES TO 'INTRODUCTION'
I. Sec Qur'an, II: 156.

2. GAL(S), 1: 320; and GAS, I: 540. In both works, Kulayni is spelled Kulini.
However, Shl'l 'ularna' generally spell it with afat~ah, i.e., Kulayni, relating the
author to his native town in Iran, Kulayn. See for instance the discussion of this in
the latest edition of ai-Kiijl, ed. Najm al-Din al-Amiili, with introduction and
notes by 'All Akbar al-Ghitarl (Tehran: al-Maktabah al-Jslamiyyah, 1388 A. H.), p.
3.
3. GAL, I: 187; and GAS, I: 544-545. In both works, the Iranian spelling, Babiiya, is
used.
4. On variation of title sec GAL(S), I: 321; and GAS, I: 544-545. Both give title as
Kitab a/-Arna/1 jl'l-A~iidrth w-al-Akhbiir.
5. GAL, I: 188; GAL(S), I: 322; and GAS, I: 549-550. In both these works, the full
title of the work is a/-Irshiidjl Ma'rifat 1-f.ujaj Allah 'alii-1-'Ibiid.
6. GAL, I: 142; and GAS, I: 323.
7. GAL, I: 65; and GAS, I: 308. Abii Mikhnaf Liit b. Yahya al-Azdi.
8. GAL, I: 226.
9. GAL, 1: 144; and GAS, I: 332.
10. In favor of the authenticity see al-Najashi, Kitiib al-Ri.fiil (Tehran: Nashreh Kitab,
n.d.), p. 192. See also Agha Buzurg Tehrani, al-Dharr'ah ilii Tasiinr al-Shr'ah, I,
p. 85 (Matba'ah al-Ghari fJ al-Najaf, 1355/1936). GAL, I: 144; and GAS, I: 332.
Against this view see the article by Dr. Jawad 'All Mashkiir, 'Mawarid Tarikh
al-Mas'iidi', Surner, XX, No. 1-2 (1964).
11. GAL, I: 146; and GAS, I: 378.
12. GAL(S), 1: 711; and GAS, I: 13.
13. Neither title nor author apyear in GAS or GAL. For a brief notice on him, see
Sayyid Mubsin A min al-'Amili, A 'yiin al-Shrah, 3rd ed. (Beirut: al-In~af Press,
1380/1960), XVI: 87-90.
14. GAL(S), 1: 623. The title is not mentioned.
15. Ibn Shahrashiib does not appear in either GAL or GAS. For listings ofhis works
under different authors, see GAL{S), I: 710.
16. GAL, 1: 142; and GAS, I: 540. This al-Tabari is not to be confused with his
namesake the famous historian who died 310/923.
17. GAL(S), II: 573.
18. The edition used in this study is the modern Iranian edition of which volume ten is
in two volumes, 44 and 45. Other volumes of this modern edition will be used and
indicated in the bibliography and footnotes. A few other sources written within
the last 100 years will be used only by way of example to show the full develop-
ment of an idea or hagiographical account.
260 Notes to pp. 21-27
19. GAL(S), 1: 952; and GAS, 1: 544. Death date given in both is 369. The date 367 is
given by the editor of the edition of the work used in this study. See bibliography.
NOTES TO CHAPTER 1: 'THE HOUSE OF SORROWS'
1. The words bayt al-ahziiu occur in many sources and especially in discussions of
the sorrows and sufferings of the family of the Prophet Mubammad. Sometimes
they occur as the title of a book. On the significance ofbayt al-ahziitl as a concept,
see Louis Massignon, Opera Minora, Y. Moubarac, ed. (Beirut: Dar ai-Ma 1arif,
(1963), I, p. 573 f.
2. While suffering and death must be considered as two separate phenomena, for the
purposes of our study they will be considered as closely related events where
suffering becomes meaningful through martyrdom.
3. Psalm 23:4, The Oxford Annotated Bible (New York: Oxford University Press,
1962).
4. Matthew 5:4, Ibid.
5. Qur,an II: 156. See Arthur J. Arberry, The Koran Interpreted (New York: Mac-
Millan Company, 1963), I, p. 48. All subsequent quotations from the Qur,an will
be taken from Arberry's translation, but the official modern Egyptian numbering
will be observed throughout.
6. A well known Greek liturgical hymn for Easter, which the author has heard
chanted many times in Arabic. See Tariq al-Amiin li-Abnii, a/-lmiin, compiled and
published by Fr. Ibrahim 1Arbili (Beirut: Qulfat Press, 1960), p. 897. Sec also for
the context the entire section, pp. 895
7. Abmad b. Mubammad Ibn l;lanbal, Musnad (1st ed. Beirut: ai-Maktab al-lslami,
1389/1966), I, pp. 173-174.
8. Mubammad b. Yazid Ibn M:ija, al-Sunan (Cairo: al-Babi al-l;lalabi, 1373/1954), II:
K. 36, Ch. 23, H. 4023.
9. Ibid., H. 4026. See also Mubammad b. 1Isa b. Sawrah al-Tirmidhi,Jiimi1 (Karachi:
n.p., n.d.), p. 316.
10. The Book of 1Ali (Kitiib 1Aii) is mentioned without any further explanation or
reference to any particular book. It does not seem that what is meant here is any of
the esoteric scrolls attributed to 1Aii like al-]afr, for instance. Cf. Abii Ja 1far
Mul}.ammad b. Ya1qiib b. Isb:iq al-Kulayni ai-R:izi, al. U.tul min al-Kiifi (edited
with a Persian translation by Sayyid Jawad Mu~tafawi. Tehran: ai-Maktabah
ai-1IImiyyah ai-Islamiyyah, I:Jaydari Press, n.d.), I, pp. 334 f.
11. Abu Ja'far Mul}.ammad b. 1Aii b. al-I:Jusayn b. Miisa Ibn B:ibawayh al-Qummi,
known as Shaykh ai-Sadiiq, 11/al al-Sharali< (Najaf: I:Jaydariyyah Press,
1382/1963), p. 44. Quoted also in a recent book: Mubammad B:iqir ai-Najafi,
al-Dam 1ah al-Siikibah (n.p., n.d.), p. 289.
12. See Qur,an, LXXXIX: 27, 28.
13. The Qur,:inic verses referred to in the previous sentence do not explicitly express
this idea, but they do carry implicitly this interpretation of the bayt al-ahziin.
14. Akhtab Khawarizm or al-Muwaffaq ai-Khaw:irizmi, Maqtal al-lfusayn (Najaf:
Mui}.ammad ai-Sam:iwi, 1367/1947), p. 165.
15. Mui}.ammad b. 1Ali b. ai-I:Jusayn ai-I:Jurr aJ-<Amili, al-]awiihir al-Saniyyah fi
Notes to pp. 27-35 261
al-Ahiidith al-Qudsiyyah (Baghdad: al-Nu 1man, 1384/1964), p. 254. The names of

the five people of the cloak arc derived from the beautiful names of God (ai-Asma 1
a/-lfusna, and this, for the Shj<i Muslims, is a proof of their nearness to God and
their place in the community and the world. See also references given in footnote
16. Sec Qur1an, II: 37.
16. 'Abdallah al-Babrani, Maqtal al- 1Awalim, Vol. XVI of'Awalim al-'Ulum (Tabriz:
Dar al-Tiba1ah, n.d.), p. 29.
17. Ibid., p. 30.
18. Ibid., p. 30. See also Mulla Mubammad Baqir al-Majlisi, Bihiir al-Anwar (Tehran:
al-Maktabah al-Islamiyyah, 1384 A.H.), XLIV: 242.
19. Majlisi, XLIV, p. 243.
20. Babrani, pp. 2-3. For similar traditions sec also 1Amili,Jawahir: 212. There are
many traditions on the authority of the imams on this idea in ai-Kulayni. We shall
again have to return to this view in Chapter 2 when discussing the actual creation
and substance of the imams.
21. John 1:3.
22. Babrani, p. 29. Sec alsop. 288. There is an increased realism, from the early to the
more recent works, in the depiction of a total and concrete relationship between
the ancient prophets and the sufferings of the imams. Adam, who is told by the
angel of the tragedy ofKarbalal, becomes here an actual witness of the event and
one of the mourners of its memory.
23. See Majlisi, XLIV, p. 242. For an interesting interpretation of this and other
traditions dealing with the participation of ancient prophets in, and their know-
ledge of, the tragedy of Karbala 1, see Mulla Akhund Darbandi, Iksir al- 1Ibiidatfi
Asrar ai-Shahadat (Tehran: Dar al-Tiba1ah, 1385/1965), p. 48.
24. 1Amili,Jawahir, pp. 210-211.
25. Ibid., p. 211.
26. This statement is repeated in many traditions going back to the imams. See, for
instance, the many references in Kulayni, Kafi, Vol. 1: K. a/-lfujjah, and Chapter 2
below.
27. Babrani, p. 29. Sec also Majlisi, XLIV, pp. 241-242.
28. Majlisi, XLIV, p. 243. Sec also Ja'far al-Tustari, Kha~ali~ al-lfusayu wa-
Mazaya ai-Ma:{liim (n.p., n.d., lithograph of manuscript, copied 1305/1887),
p. 66.
29. These are the prophets who came with a revelation and law (sharj<ah). Tradi-
tionally they are five:. Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Mubammad. Kulayni,
Kafi, Vol. I, K. ai-Jfujjah, p. 267.
30. See Qur1an, VI: 76.
31. Tustari, p. 68.
32. See Appendices, section A. 1a.
33. See Qur1an, XXXVII: 103-105.
35. Ibid., p. 243. See also Babrani, pp. 29-30.
36. See Appendices, section A. 1b.
37. Ja'far b. Mubammad b. Qawlawayh ai-Qummi, Kamil al-Ziyarat, ed. Mirza
'Abdallah al-l:lusayn a!-Amini al-Tabrizi (Najaf: Murtac,iawiyyah Press,
1356/1937): 76. The fifth Imam made this statement in answer to the question put
to him by the Umayyad Caliph Hisham Ibn 1Abd al-Malik (724-743) who sent for
him to enquire how the people who were not living in Kiifah knew of the death of
1 Ali when he was killed.
38. Massignon, I, pp. 573
39. Ba}:!rani', p. 30.
40. See Appendices, section A.1 c.
41. For Jesus speaking in the cradle, see Qurlan XIX: 29-33.
42. For these traditions concerning J:lusayn, sec Chapter 3, p. 86.
43. Popular Islamic tradition here confuses Herod the king of Judea or perhaps his
antagonist with a Babylonian king, Nabuchid Nasar, to whom Shi11 piety gives
the name ofBakhtna~~ar. See Rashid al-Din Ibn Shahrashub, Maniiqib AI Abi Tiilib
(Najaf: I:Iaydariyyah Press, 1376/1965), III, p. 238.
44. Ibn Shahrashub, Ill, p. 237. See also Qur>an, XIX: 1.
45. Ibn Shahrashub, III, pp. 235-236.
46. Mul)ammad Ibn al-Nu 1man ai-Mufid, al-Irshiid, ed. ai-Sayyid Ka?im ai-
Miyamawi (Tehran: Dar al-Kutub, 1377), p. 237.
47. We are told that the Babylonian king who conquered the Jewish kingdom of the
murderer ofJohn the Baptist beheaded seventy thousand people over the boiling
blood of the Prophet until it calmed down. The Mahdi will likewise slay .1 large
number of men in revenge for the blood of J:lusayn, increasing the number of
those slain for the blood of the Prophet seventy times over. On the Mahdi's
mission, see Chapter 6, pp. 216 ff.
48. Sec Qur>an, XXXIII: 33.
49. This tradition occurs in virtually all hadith collections, Srmni and Shi'l. For Srmni
examples see Abu ai-Qasim 1Aii Ibn ai-J:Iasan Ibn Hibat Allah Ibn 1Abdallah Ibn
al-l::lusayn Ibn 'Asakir, al- Tiirikh al-Kabir, ed. 'Abd ai-Qadir Afandi Badran
(Damascus: Rawgat al-Sham, 1332/1913) IV, pp. 314-315. It is hardly important
to enumerate all the ShN sources for this tradition, but see for example: Mu):tam-
mad Ibn ai-Fattal al-Nisabiiri, Rawqat a/- Wii 1 i~in, ed. Mu}:!ammad Khurasani
(Najaf: I:Iaydariyyah Press: 1386/1966), pp. 157-158. Also Abu Ja 1far Mu}:!ammad
Ibn Jarir Ibn Rustam al-Tabari, Daliili/ al-Imiimah (Najaf: I:Iaydariyyah Press,
1369/1949), p. 3. Tabari's version makes the event a special one in that the Prophet
planned it and the Qur>anic verse, which is quoted elsewhere, is omitted.
50. Khawarizmi, I, p. 165.
51. This argument is consistently made for all the imiims by al-Tabari in his book
Dafiilil al-Imiimah. Tabari advances it as one of the proofs of the imamate of each
imiim except the twelfth. For a more direct statement, sec the long l1adith attributed
to the sixth lnrii111 and quoted in Ibn Babawayh, 'Ilal, pp. 225 ff.
52. The context of this tradition will be considered in Chapters 5 and 6. Here only the
relevant portions will be discussed.
53. Ibn Qawlawayh, p. 255.
54. Ibid., 259 ff.
55. Ibn Babawayh, 1Ilal, p. 225.
56. AbuJa'far Mu):tammad b. <Ali b. ai-I:Iusayn b. Musa Ibn Babawayh ai-Qummi,
known as Shaykh al-Sadiiq, al-Amiilf aw al-Majalis (Qumm, ai-I:Iikmah Press,
1371/1951), pp. 78-80.
57. Ibid., pp. 70-71.
58. See Appendix A, section II, part a. for portion dealing with Fatimah. See also
relevant referenc~ in Appendix.
59. Ibn Babawayh, Amii/1, pp. 70-71.

60. It is contained in a majlis (memorial service) dated 3 Shawwal, 367/978, and is
related on the authority oflbn (Abbas. Seemajlis 24 ofKitiib al-Amiili aw ai-Majiilis
of Ibn Babawayh.
61. The dialogue between the Prophet and Fatimah repeats the question ofZeehariah
to Mary as he entered the temple and found her supplied with provisions and her
exclamation: 'It is from God'. See Qur'an, III: 37. For the whole tradition, see
Khawarizmi, I, p. 58.
62. See Appendix A, section II, part b. This generosity, put in a highly folkloric
context, is expressed in a tale which attests at one and the same time to the
apostolic mission of Mubammad and to the magnanimity of his family.
63. For the interpretation of these popular ideas in mystical and gnostic terms, see
Massignon, I, pp. 514 ff.
64. See Chapter 5, p. 193. The expression, sharik a/-Qur'iin is specifically applied to the
twelfth Imiim and, by implication, to all the others. Many ziyiirah (pilgrimage
prayers) contain this expression or general idea. Cf. Ibn Qawlawayh, passim.
65. See Ibn Shahrashiib, III, p. 49.
66. Ibid., pp. 147 ff.
67. This tradition is found in many sources. For references see Ibn Shahrashiib, III:
147-149; Fakhr al-Din al-Najafi al-Turaybi (otherwise known as al-Fakhri),
a/-Muntakhabfi jamc a/-Mariithiwa-1-Khu(ab (Najaf: f:laydariyyah Press, n.d.), pp.
137 ff. (he depends on Ibn Shahrashiib); Nisabiiri, pp. 160 ff.
68. Qur'an, LXXVI: 8; Arberry, II, p. 315. For the exegesis of this passage see Ibn
Shahrashiib, HI: 147-149; and Ibn Babawayh, Amiili, pp. 152-157. Amiili is a
collection of majiilis, each one dated as it was held.
69. Sec Ibn Shahrashiib, III, p. 149.
70. Shaykh Sadiiq is an epithet oflbn Babawayh meaning the 'truthful Shaykh'. He
was one of the earliest and most trustworthy Shici traditionists.
71. Rummiin is mentioned in the Qur'an as one of the fruits of paradise; LV: 68.
72. Ibn Shahrashiib, III, pp. 161 ff.; and Nisiiburi, pp. 160 ff.
73. See Appendix A, section II, part c, for a very vivid expression of this idea, where a
thorn tree first blossoms and gives abundant fruit then begins gradually to wither
away and finally die with the death of I:Iusayn.
74. Ibn Shahrashub, rrr, p. 155.
75. See Majlisi, XLIV, p. 245. Also Turaybi, p. 124.
76. This saying of the Prophet was given as an argument to F:itimah by Abii Bakr
against her claim for Fadak. For the theological implications of this event, see
Na~ir al-Din al-Tiisi, Tajrid al-I 1tiqiid (Mashhad: Jacfari, n.d.), published with a
commentary by Jamal a)-Din cAli Man~iir al-I:Iasan b. Yusuf b. cAli b. al-
Mutahhar al-I:Iilli under the title Kas~f al-.Hurtid.fi Sharh TaJrid al-I1tiqiid, p. 237.
77. See the articles 'Fadak', EJ2, pp. 725-727; and 'Fatimah', EI 2 , II, pp. 841-850.
78. Ibn Shahrashub, III, pp. 50-51.
79. Qur'an, XCIII: 5; Arberry, II, p. 342.
80. Ibn Shahrashiib, HI, p. 119 ff.
81. Ibid., p. 133. See also Khawarizmi, I, p. 85; and Tabari, Dalii 1il, pp. 11--43.
82. Juraybi, p. 117. Also Khawarizmi, I, p. 86.
84. Ibid., p. 85.
85. Kulayni, Kaji, I, p. 233.

86. Qur 1an, XXXIII: 72. See Chapter 2, pp. 58 f, for a detailed discussion of the
interpretation of this verse.
NoTES TO CHAPTER 2: 'THE PROOFS OF Goo'
1. J-fujjah, the singular of the word hujaj, could mean argument, proof, or con-
tention. According to Shrism the imams will be on the Day of Judgment the
argument or contention of God against those who rejected His own will and
revelation as expressed and embodied in the imams. This will become amply clear
in the course of the present discussion. Thus the English rendering, 'proofs', of
hujaj gives at best a weak sense of what is actually intended.
2. Khawarizmi, I, p. 67. The same tradition goes on to say that l;lasan and l;lusayn
will adorn the throne of God on the Day of Resurrection, appearing like earrings
adorning the face of a woman.
3. Qur'an, II: 117.
4. Tlisi, Tajrid, pp. 225 ff.
5. See in Kulayni, Kafi, I, Kitab a/-l-Jujjah, the chapter entitled, 'That they [the imams]
are the pillars or foundations (arkan) of the earth', p. 278.
6. Ibid., pp. 278 ff.
7. The many traditions attributed to the sixth and eighth Imams which appear in
most of the major sources with little variation are the best witness to this
important and very interesting development. Al-Kulayni, the first Shri tradi-
tionist, died in 328/939. This makes him a contemporary of more than one of the
four representatives of the twelfth Imam, and little removed from t"e eleventh
Imam, who died a little over half a century before him, in 260/873.
8. <Amili,Jawahir, p. 212.
9. See Chapter 1, p. 29.
10. The Prophet once was asked where God was before He created the creation and he
answered, 'He was in blind obscurity.' This hadith appears in much later !:;iifi
literature and perhaps reflects some Qur1anic ideas. C SEI, 'khal)f:', pp. 242-243.
11. Qur1an, II: 255.
12. Kulayni, Kafi, I, p. 233. The section which includes this tradition is appropriately
entitled, 'The Creation of the Bodies, Spirits and Hearts of the Imams'. The
tradition goes on to say that the followers, Shi<ah, of the imams were also created of
a special preserved clay lower than that of the imams but of which only prophets
were made. See Chapter 1, p. 51, above.
13. See Chapter 1.
14. Qur1an, XXIV: 35.
15. Kulayni, Kafi, l, pp. 277-278. The translation here used is Arberry, II, pp. 50-51.
16. Fatimah is designated as the niche, but she shares in all the characteristics of the
imams and is, in fact, one with them.
17. Abii Ja<far Mubammad b. <Ali b. al-l;lusayn b. Miisa Ibn Babawayh ai-Qummi,
known as Shaykh ai-Saduq, Kitab Ma<iini al-Aiehbar (Tehran: ai-Maktabah al-
Islamiyyah, 1379/1959), pp. 108-109. Qur'an, XXXIII: 72.
18. Ibid., p. 109.
Notes to pp. 59~5 265
19. Ibid., p. 109.

20. See Qur'an, VII: 172.
21. Ibn Ribawayh, Ma 1ani, p. 109.
22. Ibid., p. 109.
23. Ibid., p. 110. See also Qur'an, II: 37.
24. Ibid., p. 109.
25. Genesis 3:18.
26. Haba(a means 'to come down'. The Qur'an uses it in the imperative addressing
Adam and Eve, saying ihbi(ii minhii', 'come down from hence' (II: 38). Compare
with this the term used in the Arabic translation of Genesis, 'saqa(a ', which has the
sense of falling into something like a trap or a pit.
27. Ibn Babawayh, Ma 1iin!, p. 124.
28. Kulayni, Kafl, I, p. 275.
29. Ibid., p. 320.
30. Qur'an, III: 32.
31. Qur'an, IV: 48 and 116.
32. See Kulayni, Kafl, I, pp. 324-328, and 330-332.
33. Ibid., p. 334.
34. For many variants of this tradition, sec Ibn Babawayh, Ikmal al-D!n wa Itmiim
al-Ni'mah ft Ithbat al-Ra]lah, ed. Mul)ammad Mahdi ai-Sayyid ai-I:Iasan ai-
Miisawi ai-Khurasani (Najaf: l:Iaydariyyah Press, 1389/1970), pp. 300-305.
35. Tabar!, Dala'il, pp. 27 ff.
36. Kulayni, Kafl, I, pp. 346-357. In Dalii'il al-Imiimah, the tradition concerning the
mu~~af ofFatimah is related on the authority of the fifth Imam, who describes the
contents of the first two leaves and declares that it is with the imams and will
continue to be until it is delivered to the 'master of the age', the Mahdi, who will
fulfill all that is in it. (See note 35 above.)
37. Kulayni, Kajl, I, p. 347. jafr signifies a container either of revelation, perhaps in
written form, or of specific items regarded as signs of power or authority.
38. Ibid., p. 347.
39. Ibid., pp. 347-350.
40. Ibid., p. 349. It is the lot of the imams, except the twelfth, to suffer persecution and
martyrdom and not to achieve victory. The twelfth will truly carry the swo'rd,
and to him alone will all victory and vengeance belong.
42. See A.A. A. Fayzee, A ShNte Creed (Calcutta: Oxford University Press, 1942), pp.
100 ff.
43. Ibn Babawayh, 1/la/, p. 228. The last phrase is difficult to render in English, but it
suggests that these extremists violated either the rights of God by setting up other
gods with Him, or the rights of the imams by claiming for them more than was the
truth.
44. Kulayni, Kafl, I, p. 379. It is of some interest, perhaps, to observe that the man
who asked the question was a Persian. This of course raises the perplexing issue of
the extent to which the whole doctrine of the imamate was influenced by Iranian
and other non-Islamic traditions. This problem, however, falls outside the scope
of this study. For the present purpose, we regard Shfli piety as an integral
phenomenon and accept it as such without raising the problem of its sources,
important though this problem may be. On this question see the interesting
article by Toufic Fahd, 'Jatfar A$-Siidiq ct Ia tradition scientifique arabe', in Le

Schltlsme Jmiimite, ed. Toufic Fahd (Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1970),
pp. 131-143.
45. See Ibn Babawayh, Amii/1, pp. 399 f( See also Kulayni, Kiifi l, pp. 283-293; Abu
Man~ur Mui)ammad b. tAli b. Abi Talib al-Tabarsi, Kitiib al-J~tijiij (Najaf: Nut
man Press, 1386/1966), II, pp. 226 f(
46. Ibn Babawayh, Amiili, p. 399. See Qur 1an, LVII: 21; Arberry II, p. 261.
47. Such signs are also claimed for the prophet by general Islamic piety in proof of his
prophethood. See for example Abu Nthym Ai)mad b. (Abdallah al-I~fahani,
Dalii 1il ai-Nubuwwah, 2nd ed. (Hyderabad: Majlis Da 1irat al-Ma(arif al-
(Uthmaniyyah Press, 1396/1950), pp. 110-111.
48. See Kulayni, Kiifi, I, p. 162. This refers to the distinction between a prophet who
may see the angel who speaks to him and an imiim who only hears the angel's
voice.
49. Tabarsi, Ihtijiij, p. 230. The last sentence of the text emphasizes that no legal point
of the Sharrtah should be beyond the imam's knowledge from the most significant
to the smallest offense or indemnity. Thus the imiim is characterized by his perfect
knowledge and justice.
50. Compare the marks of the Buddha and special characteristics of the Boddhisatva
in Indian and Far Eastern traditions, the perfect man of Iranian religion and his
counterpart in the Son of Man in post-Biblical Judaism.
NoTES TO CHAPTER 3: 'THE MAsTER oF THE YouTHS oF PARADisE'
1. Sayyid shabiib ah/ al-jannah is applied to both brothers, al-l:lasan and al-I:Iusayn, by
the Prophet and appears in all sources dealing with their lives. Sec for example
note 4 below.
2. It may be argued that the twelfth Imam, as he embodies in himself all the preceding
imams and even prophets, and consummates their mission, occupies the highest
position of them all. See Chapter 6.
4. See for example, Mufid: p. 180, and Ibn Shahrashub, III, p. 153; and for a
thorough discussion by a Sunnl author, see Ibn tAsakir, IV, p. 314.
5. Ibn Shahrashub, III, p. 153.
6. Majlisi, XLIV, p. 175; and tAli al-Fagl Ibn I:Iasan al-Tabarsi, Kitiib J!/iim a/- Wara
hi-A tliim ai-Huda (Tehran: al-Maktabah al-tllmiyyah al-Islamiyyah, 1338/1919),
p. 215. See also note 56 below.
8. Qur 1an XL VI: 15. The verse reads as follows: ' ... his mother bore him painfully,
and painfully she gave birth to him; his bearing and his weaning are thirty
months. Until, when he is fully grown, and reaches forty years, he says, "0 my
Lord, dispose me that I may be thankful for Thy blessing wherewith Thou hast
blessed me and my father and mother, and that I may do righteousness well-
pleasing to Thee; and make me righteous also in my seed." ' Arberry, II, pp.
216-217.
9. Ibn Qawlawayh, pp. 56-57. See also Kulayni, Kiifi, I: p. 363.
I 0. Abii al-f;lasan 1All b. al-f;lasan al-Mas 1iidi al-Dihli, lthbiit a/- Wa~lyyah /i 1/-lmiim 1All
bin Abi Tiilib, 4th cd. (Najaf: f;laydariyyah Press, 1374/1954). See also Kulayni,
Kiifi, I, p. 363.
II. Mas 1iidi, lthbiit, pp. 160 ff.
12. Such sagas are quite common in the Muslim world and are recited as Mawiilid on
many occasions. For an example in English sec Suleyman <;::elebi, Mevlid-i Serif,
trans. F. Lyman MacCullum (London: John Murray, 1943). It is interesting here
that the relatively late work of Bai;lrani has attained classical status for many
modern writers, who grant it the same prestige and claim to authenticity as the
oldest and most trustworthy works on the subject.
13. Bai;lrani, p. 3.
14. The Arabic word ruqyah is a spell or incantation to protect someone against some
evil force or spirit. This is done by old pious men or women, normally over a child
who has been scared by something or suspected of being struck with the evil eye.
The two surahs of refuge (the last two silrahs of the Qur 1an) are usually used in the
ruqyah formula, and usually the man or woman performing this ruqyah blows in
the face of the person for whom it is performed.
15. Bai;lrani, pp. 3-4.
16. Ibid., p. 4.
17. Qur1an, XXVI: 214.
18. This tradition, with many variants, occurs in most Shi1i ~adith collections and
theological treatises in proof of the imamate of 1Ali and his descendants. See, for a
long version of this tradition Khawarizmi, I, p. 50; and for a Shi1i theological
statement, Tiisi, Tajrid, pp. 247-248.
19. M ufid, pp. 179-190.
20. Shr<i tradition asserts that the wa~i of Moses the prophet was his brother Aaron,
and that God continued the prophetic line in the latter's progeny. Therefore, 1Ali,
in whose line the imamate was deposited, continues that prophetic cycle in the line
of the imiims. See note 21 below.
21. See Henri Corbin, Histoire de Ia Philosophic Is/ami que (Paris: Gallimard, 1964), Ch.
2; and Sayyid l:faydar Amuli,Jiimi' al-Asriir Tehran: Franco-Iranian Institute of
Research, 1347/1969), pp. 241-242.
22. Qur 1an, XVII: 33; Arbcrry, I, pp. 305-306.
24. Other dates arc given by Shr<i writers, but this one seems to be the date generally
agreed upon by all trustworthy authorities. See Mufid, p. 180. See also Shaykh
Abiija1far Mubammad b. al-l:fasan al-Tiisi, Kitiib al-Amiili, ed. Mubammad Sadiq
Babr ai-<Uittm (Baghdad: ai-Maktabah ai-Ahliyyah, 1384/1964), I, pp. 377-378,
among many other sources. See also Ibn Babawayh, Amiili, p. 81.
25. E/ 2 , I, <Aqiqah'.
26. See Nisabiiri, p. 164, where Umm Ayman is mentioned. See also Ibn Shahrashiib,
III, pp. 226 ff.; and Ragi al-Oin <Ali b. Miisa b. ja1far b. Mui;lammad b. Tawiis
ai-Baghdadi, al-Luhuf 'alii Qat/a a/- Tufof, 2nd ed. (Sayda: aJ-Cirfan Press,
1347/1929), p. 10.
27. Darbandi, pp. 94 ff.
28. Ibid., p. 95. This is supposed to be a tree in paradise, the tree of beatitude (shajarat
(ubii), which is mentioned in many popular sources relating the marriage of'Aii
and Fatimah, and the birth of their children.
29. Nisaburi, p. 154.

30. An interesting source for this tradition is Ibn (Asakir in his al- Tiirikh ai-Kabir, p.
314. Ibn (Asakir was a well known Sunni author with definite anti-Shi(i sen-
timents. He relates the tradition on the authority of Abu Hurayrah, the famous
authority of Sunni ~adith.
32. Ibid., p. 207.
33. Ibid., p. 207.
34. This highly idiomatic expression popularly means as dear or precious as the skin
between the two eyes.
36. The name of this angel seems to be derived from the Arabic name for Peter,
Butrus. No other connection between the angel and the Apostle is anywhere
suggested.
37. This story is told with many variations regarding both the name of the angel, and
the reason for his punishment. For early sources, sec Ibn Shahrashub, III, p. 229;
and Nisaburi, p. 155. The story is told in almost all books dealing with the life of
the Imam. In later sources, however, three angels arc given. Sec Babrani, pp. 5-6.
Se~ also Darbandi, pp. 94 ff.
38. Babrani, p. 25.
39. Ibn Shahrashub, Ill, p. 229.
40. Sec Turaybi, pp. 61 ff Sec also Darbandi, p. 98.
41. The bearers of the throne resembling the various animals were there to intercede
with God, each one for the animal species which he resembles. See Ibn
Shahrashub, III, p. 230.
42. Khawarizmi, I, p. 158. The author adds that there was not an angel who did not
descend to the Prophet to console him on the impending tragedy. Sec also Ibn
Tii wus, Luhuf, pp. 9-10.
43. Ibid., p. 160.
44. Ibid., p. 161.
45. Ibid., p. 169.
46. Mufid, p. 180.
47. Ibid., p. 180.
48. Ibid., p. 181.
49. Qur 1an, III: 61. The verse reads, 'Come now, let us call our sons and your sons,
our wives and your wives, our selves and your selves, then let us humbly pray and
so lay God's curse upon the ones who lie.' Arberry, I, p. 82.
50. For an interesting analysis of the mubiihalah with regard to Fatimah and the Holy
Family, see Massignon, Opera Minora, I, p. 550. See among many ShN sources Ibn
Shahrashub, III, pp. 151 ff.; Mufid, p. 181; and Nisaburi, pp. 156 ff.
51. Ibn Shahriishiib, III, pp. 143-144.
52. Ibid., pp. 143-147.
53. For a good example of such legends, see Khawarizmi, I, pp. 144 ff.
54. Nisaburi, p. 158.
55. Ibid., p. 159.
56. See, for example, the two sections in Ibn Shahrashub, III, pp. 153 ff., on 'the love
of the Prophet for them', and 'some examples of their virtues'.
57. See, for example, Turayl;ti, pp. 252-253.
Notes to pp. 82--89 269
58. Sec Majlisi, XLV, p. 150, for his sources.

59. Ibid., p. 150. For a further embellishment, sec Turaybi, p. 64, and Darbandi,
p. 526.
60. See Ibn Shahrashiib, III, p. 234; and Turaybi, p. 51. TurayQ.i omits Miiriyah, the
mother of Ibrahim, from his story and emphasizes the love of the Prophet for
l::lusayn as the main moti
61. Mas'iidi, Ithbat, p. 161.
62. Ibid., p. 161.
64. See Chapter 2, passim.
65. Tabarsi, I'lam, p. 215. Sec also Kulayni, Kiifi, I, pp. 69-72.
66. The last words of this sentence indicate the function of the imam, here both a
teacher and a savior. The word mushkilat refers to hardships, problems and
insurmountable difficulties. See Tabarsi, I'liim, p. 159; and note 7 above.
67. Reference here is to the throne of Bilqis, Queen of Sheba. Sec Qur 1:in, XXVII:
23-44.
68. Majlisi, XLIV, pp. 180-181. Sec also Ibn Shahrashiib, III, p. 211.
69. Ibn Shahrashiib, III, p. 211.
70. Ibid., p. 210. l
71. For this and other miracles attributed to l::lusayn sec IH{t Shahr:ishiib, III, pp. 209-
211; and Majlisi, XLV, pp. 180 f
7'2. Ibn Shahr:ishiib, III, p. 209.
73. The prayer known as $alat al-Istisqa 1 is a common practice in Islam, going back to
the Prophet.
75. Tabari, Dalii 1il, p. 73. The greatest miracles attributed to the Imam are those related
to his martyrdom. These, more than any others, are meant to show his special
status with God and voluntary self-sacrifice in His way. For theShi'is, they prove
beyond doubt his claim to the imamate. We shall deal later with a few of these.
76. Khawarizmi, I, pp. 155-156.
77. Niir al-Oin 'Ali b. Mubammad b. Abmad ai-Miiliki ai-Makki (known as Ibn
ai-Sabb:igh), AI-Fu~iil al-Muhimmah Ji Ma'rifat al-Aiimmah (Tehran: n.p., 1333
A.H.), p. 183. See also Qur1an, IV: 86.
78. All three citations are from Quean, III: 134; Arbcrry, I, p. 90.
79. Sec Ibn al-Sabb:igh, pp. 183-184.
80. 'Abdallah al-'AI:i 1ili, al-Imiim al-1-Jusayn (Beirut: Dar Maktabah al-Tarbiyah,
1972), p. 327.
81. Ibn Shahrashiib, III, p. 211; Majlisi, XLIV, p. 190; and Yiisufb. Firghali Ibn
'Abdallah ai-Baghd:idi Sibt Abi ai-Faraj 'Abd ai-Rabman Ibn ai-Jawzi al-l::lanafi,
Tadhkiriit al-Khawii~. otherwise known as Tadhkiriit Khawii~ al-Ummahfi Kha~ii 1 i~
al-A 1immah, ed. Sayyid Mubammad S:idiq Babr ai-'Uiiim (Najaf: l::laydariyyah
Press, 1383/1964), p. 254.
82 Ibn Shahrashiib, III, p. 223.
83. Ibn ai-Sabbagh, p. 185.
84. Ibid., p. 185. Sec also Appendix B for fuller texts of l:Iusayn's sayings.
85. Ignaz Goldziher, Muslim Studies, cd. and tr. S. M. Stern (London: George Allen
and Unwin Ltd., 1967), I, pp. 11 ff.
86. Ibn 'Asakir, IV, p. 323.
87. For an interesting episode between l:lusayn and Mu 1awiyah and the latter's son
Yazid, over the beautiful woman Uraynab, illustrating further l:lusayn's gallantry
and generosity, sec Abii Mubammad 'Abdallah b. Muslim b. Qutaybah al-
Dinawari, Kitiib al-Imiimah w-al-Siyiisah (Cairo: MuHafa al-Babi al-I:Ialabi,
1377 /1957), 1: 193-202. This is otherwise known as Tiirikh a/-Khulq[iil (History of
the Caliphs).
88. Ku1ayni, Kiift, I, p. 255; and Ibn Babawayh, Ma'iitzi, p. 188.
89. Ibn Shahrashiib, III, p. 210; and Majlisi, XLIV, pp. 83-84.
90. Kulayni, KOji, I, pp. 376, 379, 383.
91. An exception to this is the argument made by ai-Sayyid al-MurtaQa in his Tanzih
al-Anblyiil (Najaf: l:laydariyyah Press, 2nd cd., 1388/1968), pp. 221 ff., where he
insists that l:lusayn went to Iraq on the promise of support, and did not know the
consequences of his action. This viC'w, however, has received much criticism
from many writers. A modern example is Sayyid Mubsin al-A min al-'Amili in his
work Lawii'ij al-Ashj(m fl Maqtal al-lmiim A hi 'Abdallah al-f.!usayn (Najaf: l:lay-
dariyyah Press, 1381 II 962), p. 221.
92. Mas1iidi, Ithbiit, p. 162.
93. Ibn 1Asakir, in his Tiiriklz, relates a few of the traditions concerning Umm
Salamah's prior knowledge of the death ofH.usayn and the turning of the soil she
kept into blood on the day he died, but he questions the veracity of such traditions
as he states on the authority of al-Waqidi that she died three years before the death
ofi:Iusayn. Sec IV, p. 314.
94. 1Ali b. 1isa al-Irbili, Kaslif al-Gizummahfi Ma 1rifat gl-A limmah (Iran: n. p., 687 /1288),
p. 204.
95. Ibid., p. 204. Sec also Ibn Tawiis, Luhiif, pp. 33-34.
96. Ibn Tawiis, Luhiif, p. 34. Sec also 'Abd al-Razzaq Miisawi, Maqtal a/-f.!usayn aw
f,!adith Karba[iil (Najaf: NajafPrcss, 1383/1963), p. 56.
NoTEs TO CHAPTER 4: 'THE WRONGED MARTYR'
1. The two epithets, martyr (shahid) and wronged one (ma:?liim), occur both
separately and together as one. Sec Ibn Shahrashiib, III, p. 232, for other such
names and epithets.
2. See the treatment of H.usayn's death in SEI, 'al-H.usain', p. 142.
3. Saqifah is a shelter or roofed space where apparently important tribal meetings in
early Arabia were held. The reference here. is to the saqifah of Bani Sa'id~h,
where 'Ali was passed over in favor of Abii Bakr as caliph. During my stay in
Iran, I often heard this statement made and expanded upon by the 1ulamiil in
public orations. Sec also Turayl)i, p. 4.
4. This point is stressed by all Muslim sources on I;Jusayn. Sec, for instance, the
statements attributed to him in Tabari, quoted below in this chapter.
5. Ibn Sabbagh, p. 189. This statement was reported on the authority of Abii
Mikhnaf. who is one main source for I:Iusayn's revolt and death.
6. Abmad b. Abi Ya1qiib b. Ja 1far b. Wahb al-Ya'qiibi, Tiirikh al-Ya'qiibi, ed.
Mubammad $adiq Bal:u al-1Uliim (Najaf: l:laydariyyah Press, 1384/1964), II, p.
216.
Notes to pp. 94-101 271
7. Ibid., p. 216.
8. Ibn Babawayh, A mall, pp. 87 ff. There the will ofMu'awiyah is reported as a part
of the martyrdom story on the authority of the sixth Imiim, ai-Sadiq.
9. Khawiirizmi, I, pp. 175-176. For other Sunni sources see Ibn al-Jawzi, p. 235; and
Abu l:lanifah Ahmad b. Dawud al-Dinawari, al-Akhbiir al- Tiwiil, 1st ed., ed.
Muhammad Sa'id al-Raqi'i (Cairo: n.p. 1330/1911), p. 228.
11. Ibid., p. 176; Ya'qubi, II, p. 217; and Ibn al-Jawzi, p. 235.
12. Khawarizmi, I, p. 180; Abu Jalfar Muhammad Ibn Jarir al-Tabari, Tiirikh al-
Umam w-al-Muluk (Cairo: f:Iusayniyyah Press, first ed., n.d.), VI, p. 188; see
Majlisi, XLIV, pp. 310-312, for his sources.
13. This conversation between al-l:lusayn and ai-Walid is reported with several
variants. Sec, for example: Ibn Tawus, Luhuf, p. 14; al-Dinawari, p. 228; and
Tabari, Tiirikh, VI, p. 189.
15. Mufid, p. 182.
16. Ibid., p. 182.
17. This verse of the Qur1an (II: 156) is usually recited at the news of death or great
calamity.
19. Tabari, Tiirikh, VI. p. 191.
20. Ibid., p. 191.
21. Khawarizmi, as a Sunni author, adds 'and the rightly guided caliphs', I, pp.
188-189.
22. Mufid, pp. 182-183; Majlisi, XLIV, pp. 329-330.
23. Tabarsi, I'liim, p. 221; Tabari, Tiirikh, VI, p. 199; Mufid, p. 182. For the first date,
see Khawarizmi, I, p. 189. For an alternate date, see Ibn Tiiwiis, Luhuf, p. 14.
24. Qur1an, XXVIII: 21 and 22; Arberry, II, p. 88. See Mufid, p. 184; Tabari,
Tiirikh, VI, p. 193; and Nisaburi, p. 171.
25. Tabari, Tiirikh, VI, p. 217; and Mufid, p. 200.
26. The story of Muslim is dramatically related in Tabari, where all various reports
are given; see Tabari, Tiirikh, VI, p. 194; and Mufid, pp. 186 ff.
27. Sa1d, 1Umar's father, was one of the closest companions of the Prophet; see
Chapter 1, p. 25.
28. For a good account oflbn Ziyad's career and character, and the traditions dealing
with his parentage, see Taha J:lusayn, al-Fitllah ai-Kubrii, II, 'Ali rva Bauu (Cairo:
Dar al-Ma1arif, 1966), pp. 204-206.
29. See the previous note. For J:lusayn's view, which became the traditional Shi'i
view, see Tabarsi, al-lhtijiij, II, p. 20.
30. Ibn Tiiwus, Luhiif, p. 28; Tabarsi. I'liim, p. 223.
31. Tabari, Tiirikh, VI, pp. 196-198; Mufid, pp. 185-186.
32. Ibn Tawiis, Luhiif, p. 19. For other letters see pp. 15-19.
33. Mufid, p. 186; and the previous note.
34. Ibn al-Jawzi, p. 238. 'If you do not come you will be a transgressor (iithim).'
35. Tabari, Tiirikh, VI, p. 231. Also see below in this chapter.
36. Tabari, Tiirikh, VI, p. 231; Tabarsi, I'liim, p. 223. For an interesting variant sec
Najm al-Oin Mul).ammad b. Ja'far b. Abi al-Baqa 1 Hibat Allah b. Nama al-l:lilli,
Muthir al-Ahziin (Najaf: l:laydariyyah Press, 1369/1950), pp. 29-30.
272 Notes to pp. 101-110
37. Sec the previous note.

38. Tabari, Tiirikh, VI, pp. 204-206.
39. Ibn T:iwiis, Luhuf, pp. 35-37. Ibn T:iwiis offers yet another reason for l;lusayn to
take his women with him. If he had left them behind, Yazid would have taken
them and l;lusayn's struggle would have been for their freedom rather than for
thejihiid against Yazid. See also his discussion on p. 47.
40. The leech is metaphorically used to denote his declaration of bay!ah to Yazid,
which stuck in his throat like a leech and like a leech was to suck out his blood.
41. Tabari, Tiirikh, VI, p. 223. Tabari reports this tradition on the authority oflbn
Sa!d, the famous biographer of the Prophet and his companions.
42. Tabari, Tiirikh, VI, p. 217; and Mufid, p. 201.
43. l;lilli, p. 33; Ibn Tiiwiis, p. 39.
44. Ibn al-Jawzi, p. 275. This correspondence between Yazid and Ibn (Abbas is
reported on the authority of al-W:iqidi. That l;lusayn actually attributed his
reason for going to Iraq to a divine command of some sort, is a fact reported by
most of our sources, even the early ones. Tabari's own source, for example, Abii
Mikhnaf, relied on eyewitness reports for many of his traditions. We cannot
therefore explain away this motive altogether by assigning it to later pious
exaggerations: the traditions asserting it are too early and widespread. These
traditions themselves have also acquired accrctions, as we shall see.
45. Tabari, Tiirlkh, VI, p. 219; Mufid, p. 203. For a slightly different version see
46. Tabari, Tiirikh, VI, pp. 202 ff. According to Tabari, Muslim was killed on the
same day l;lusayn left Mecca, so he could not have known of his death until he
was well on his way. See also Mufid, pp. 197 ff.
47. Mufid, p. 196.
48. Sec, for example, the smallest and most widely accepted number in Mufid, p.
216. For the second estimate see Tabari, Tiirikh, VI, p. 220. For still a larger
estimate sec Abii al-l;lasan (Ali b. al-l;lasan b. (Ali al-Mas(iidi, Muriij ai-Dhahab
wa-Maciidin ai-Jawhar (Beirut: Dar ai-Andalus, n.d.), III, p. 56.
49. According to some traditions, the messenger was Qays b. Ma~har al-Saydawi.
See Mufid, p. 203; Tabari, Tiirikh, VI, p. 224.
50. Qur>an XXXIII: 23. Arbcrry, II, p. 123.
51. Tabari, Tiirikh, VI, pp. 229-230.
52. Ibid., p. 224.
53. Mufid, p. 207.
54. Tabari, Tiirikh, VI, p. 229.
55. Ibid., p. 229.
56. Mufid, p. 209; Tabari, Tiirikh, VI, p. 236; for variants and lexical explanations,
see Majlisi, p. 193.
57. Mufid, p. 204.
58. Khawarizmi, I, p. 237. Sec also Tabari, Tiirikh, VI, p. 231; and Mufid, pp.
204-205, for different versions.
59. Ibn T:iwiis, Luhuf, p. 45.
60. Mufid, p. 210.
61. There seem to have been at least two communications between Ibn Ziyad and
Ibn Sa(d, and this seems to be the first one. See Tabari, Tiirikh, VI, p. 234; and
Mufid, p. 212.
Notes to pp. 110-117 273

63. For a full text.oflbn Sa'd's letter to Ibn Ziyad giving these choices, sec Mufid, p.
212. The author does not question the statement of I;Iusayn giving the three
alternatives here cited.
64. For modern examples, sec 'Amili, Lawii'ij. p. 101, and especially pp. 219-224;
and Miisawi,l;ladith Karbalii 1: pp. 232 ff. For an interesting and sober analysis of
the entire episode and especially of the present point, sec Mubam_mad Mahdi
Shams al-Din, Thawrat al-l;lusayu Zurnfuhii al-ljtimii1iyyah wa-Athiiruhii al-
Insiiniyyah (Beirut: Dar al-Andalus, n.d.), pp. 102 ff., and passim. For a Sunni
analysis, see 1Abbas Mabmiid al-'Aqqiid, Abu al-Shuhadii 1 al-l;lusayn Ibn 'Ali
(Cairo: Dar ai-Hilal, n.d.), p. 94.
65. Tabari, Tiirikh, III, p. 235.
66. Mufid, p. 213; Tabari, Tiirikh, VI, p. 226.
67. Tabari, Tiirikh, III, p. 236.
68. Ibid., p. 234; and al-I;Iilli, p. 35.
69. Tabari, Tiirikh, VI, p. 238; and Nisabiiri, p. 183.
70. Mufid, p. 215.
71. Ibid., p. 215.
72. These verses are reported in all the main sources. Sec, for instance, Mufid, p. 216;
Tabari, Tiirikh, VI. p. 239; and Abii al-Faraj ai-I~fahani, Maqiitil a/- 'fii/ibiyyin, cd.
Abmad Sakar (Cairo: 'Isa ai-Babi al-I;Ialabi, 1949), p. 113.
73. Mufid, p. 216. Sec also the previous note.
74. Tabari, Tiirikh, VI, p. 240. The qa(a is a bird usually hunted at night; therefore it
never sleeps at night.
76. Ibid., p. 241. See also Mufid, p. 216.
77. Tabari, Tiirikh, VI, p. 243; Mufid, p. 217.
78. An attempted prayer performed in time of war or other catastrophes.
80. Ibid., p. 246.
81. Qur'an, XXXIII: 23; Arbcrry, I, p. 123.
82. Mufid, p. 221.
83. His name has been variously reported as Ibn As'ad al-Shabami or the name here
given, which is generally accepted. See Khawarizmi, II, p. 16; and Mufid, p. 222.
For his role in extremist Shi'i ideas, see Majlisi, XLIV, p. 277; and below in this
chapter.
84. Qur1an, XL: 30-31; Arberry, II, p. 178.
85. Tabari, Tiirikh, II, p. 254; Mufid, p. 222.
86. The Qur1an does not enter into the details of crucifixion. See, however, Qur1an,
IV: 157.
87. See Tabari, Tiirikh, VI, p. 246; Mufid, p. 220; Khawarizmi, I, p. 249; and
Nisabiiri, p. 185.
88. Around this infant has grown an elaborate legend. According to Ya'qiibi, for
instance, a very early source, he was born at the same hour in which his father
wished to see him. Ya1qiibi, II, p. 233.
89. I;Iilli, p. 56; Ibn Tawiis, pp. 55-56, Sayyid Mubammad Mahdi Ibn al-Sayyid
Ja'far al-Musawi, Riyiicf al-Ma~ii'ib (1243 A.H.). This last book is in manuscript
form in the author's collection.
274 Notes to pp. 117-124
90. See previous note.

91. Tabari, Tiirikh, VI, p. 257; Mufid, p. 225.
92. Mufid, p. 224.
93. Sec, for example, Khawarizmi, I, p. 242; Miisawi,lfadith Karbata>, p. 252. The
latter source, echoing many earlier traditions, almost makes aJ-<Abbas a divine
hero. Sec especially his poem cited there.
94. Ibn Shahrashiib, who must be regarded as an important popular source, argues
that l:lusayn killed close to 2000 men. Sec Maniiqib, III, pp. 246 ff Even in this
rather lengthy sketch, it has been necessary to omit much that belongs to both
the historical and the hagiographical accounts. For a fairly complete presentation
of actual maqtal materials in European languages, seeDer Tod des Husei11 be11 1Ali
und di- Rache, rin historischn Roman aus drm Arabischen (tr. F. Wiistenfeld,
Gottingcn, 1883).
95. I have heard of, but have not myself seen, the work in which a prominent Indian
Shr<i 'alim, 'Ali Naqi, argues for the fictitious character of this man. But in our
brief conversation at Aligarh in India, he said nothing to suggest this opinion.
96. Tabari, Tiir'ikh, VI, p. 259; Mufid, p. 226.
98. Tabari, Tiirikh, VI, pp. 260-261; Mufid, p. 225. Sec also IbnBabawayh,Amiili, p.
99. Here we read on the authority of the fifth 1miim that there were found on
l:lusayn's body over 120 stabs and strikes, all in his breast because he would not
turn to run away.
99. Mufid, p. 225.
100. Khawarizmi, II, p. 31. Sec also Ibn Tawiis, p. 65.
101. Khawarizmi, II, p. 32.
102. Mufid, p. 227.
103. Tabari, Tiir'ikh, VI: p. 260; Mufid, p. 227. Mufid relates that Yazid came to cut
off the head but his hands trembled. So Shimr did it and gave the head to him to
carry to Ibn Sa1d and later to Ibn Ziyad.
105. Majlisi, XLIV, p. 115. Majlisi even puts in her mouth a moving dirge in the form
of a long poem which will be discussed in the next chapter.
106. Tabari, Tiirikh, VI, p. 262. Sec also Mufid, p. 228.
107. Matthew 27: 46.
108. Matthew 26: 53.
109. Fortunatus in Rev. Joseph Connelly, M.A., Hymns of the Roman Liturgy
(Westminster, Maryland: Newman Press, 1954), Hymn 52, pp. 80-82.
110. Tabari, Tiirikh, VI, p. 191; Khawarizmi, I, p. 187.
111. Majlisi, XLIV, p. 238; note also his sources.
112. Ibid., p. 238; Khawarizmi, I, p. 188.
113. Kulayni, Kiifi, p. 386.
114. Tabari, Data>il, p. 72.
115. Darbandi, p. 396.
116. Ibid., p. 396.
117. Tabari, Datii>i/, p. 74.
118. Ibn Tawiis, Luhuf, p. 131. Ibn Tawiis quotes this tradition from Kitiib al-Majiilis
by al-Mufid, who is regarded as a very sober- traditionist.
119. Ibn Shahrashiib, Ill, p. 11.
Notes to pp. 124-130 275
120. Kulayni, Kaji, I, p. 216. Sec also Ibn Qawlawayh, p. 88, where the scroll (~ahifah)
of f:lusayn is specifically mentioned.
121. For an interesting comparison between the martyrs of the two battles, see
Miisawi, l:ladith Karbalii 1, pp. 56 ff.
122. Qur1an, IX, 40.
123. Ibn Tawiis, p. 57; sec also Ibn Qawlawayh, p. 88.
124. T:iliit is mentioned in the Qur1an as the old Hebrew king-prophet, perhaps Saul
who killed Goliath. See Qur'an, II: 247.
125. Mas'iidi, Ithbiit, p. 163.
126. Miisawi, l:ladith Karbalii 1, p. 52.
127. Sec the tradition in Ibn Babawayh, 'Ilal, attributed to the sixth Imiim, p. 229.
I 28. Tabari, Dalii'il, p. 77.
129. Ibid., p. 77. We shall return to this tradition again in Chapter 6.
130. Darbandi, p. 394.
131. Ibid., p. 394.
132. Ibn Tiiwiis, p. 56; and Nisabiiri, p. 189.
133. The story off;Iusayn's horse is told with many variants in very early sources.
The late tradition just cited is reported in Mubammad Biiqir b. 'Abd al-Karim
al-Najafi, al-Dam'ah al-Siikibah (n.p., n.d.), pp. 346-347, in which the author
claims to have taken the tradition from an old copy of al-Mufid's Irshiid.
134. Sec Ibn Babawayh, Amiili, p. 9&, for an early source. Sec also Majlisi, XLIV, pp.
318 ff. For a popular modern source, see Miisawi. Riyiirf, pp. 329-331.
135. Miisawi, Riyiirf, p. 331.
136. Mufi!f, p. 225; Tabari, Tiirikh, VI, p. 260; Ibn 'Asakir, IV, pp. 338-340.
137. The story of the camel driver seems to have grown out of an earlier tradition
concerning l;Iusayn's trousers. It bears similarity to several other tales. Sec, for
instance, Kha warizmi, II, p. 124.
138. Turaybi, p. 473.
139. Ibn Shahriishiib, III, p. 261.
140. These verses occur in some of the earliest sources. Sec 1$fahani, p. 120; and Ibn
Shahr:ishub, Ill, p. 261.
141. This and other speeches attributed to her arc masterpieces of rhetoric. For
sources and variants as well as lexical explanations, sec Majlisi, XLV, pp.
148-150. I
142. Tabari, Tiirikh, VI, p. 264; Mufid, p. 231; Ibn Biibawayh, Amiili, p. 100. He
relates the incident on the authority of Abii Mikhnaf.
143. Ibn Tawiis, p. 104.
144. Majlisi, XLV, p. 137. He reports this version from a book written by one ofhis
contemporaries.
145. Ibid., pp. 137 ff. Several earlier examples arc cited. Also sec Nisabiiri, pp. 189 ff.;
and Khawiirizmi, II, pp. 69 ff.
146. Sec Chapter 3, pp. 81-82.
147. Majlisi, XLV, pp. 139 ff.; Darbandi, p. 526.
148. Ibn Qutaybah, I, pp. 290 ff.
149. Majlisi, XLV, p. 195. For the general idea of the punishment of the murderers of
J:lusayn, see also Majlisi, XLIV, p. 299; and Khawarizmi, II, pp. 86 ff. This
tradition is very popular; I have heard it since my childhood.
150. Majlisi, XLV, p. 196.
276 Notes to pp. 130-138
151. Sec Khawarizmi, II, p. 38; Ibn Shahrashiib, Ill, p. 221; and Ibn Babawayh, Amii/1,
pp. 100-101. Sec also Chapter 5.
152. Sec the previous note, and also Ibrahim al-Bayhaqi, AI-Ma~iisiu w-al-Masiiwi 1
(Cairo: Nahd.at Misr, n.d.), I, pp. 97 f
153. For different versions of her speech and lexical explanation, sec Majlisi, XLV,
pp. 107 ff.
154. Ibn Shahrashiib, III, p. 262; Tiisi, Amiili, I, pp. 90-91.
155. Tabari, Tiirikh, VI, p. 223. For a popular tradition, sec Ibn Babawayh, 1llal, p.
228. Sec Chapter 5.
156. Ibn Babawayh, <Jlal, p. 228. Sec also Khawarizmi, H, p. 84. We shall return to the
weeping of all things for l:;iusayn, an important motifin the Mubarram cultus, in
the next chapter.
157. Khawarizmi, II, p. 92; and Majlisi, XLV, p. 171.
159. For a variety of traditions on this theme, see Majlisi, XLV, pp. 188 ff.
160. Majlisi, XLV, p. 192.
161. For several traditions on the head of l;lusayn, see Ibn Shahrashiib, III, pp.
212-217; Tabari, Tiirikh, VI, pp. 261-262; Majlisi, XLV, pp. 146-147.
162. Qur'an, XVII!: 9; Arbcrry, I, p. 316.
163. See note 161, above.
164. For this genre of tales, sec Majlisi, XLV, pp. 181-183.
165. Ibid., p. 183.
166. Ibid., p. 183.
167. Qur1an, XIV: 42, and XXVI: 227; Arbcrry, I, p. 279, and II, p. 75.
168. Majlisi, XLV, p. 138; and Ibn Shahrashiib, III, p. 217.
169. Ibn Tawiis, p. 98.
170. See Qutb al-Oin Sa<id b. Hibatallah al-Rawandi, Kitiib al-Kharii 1ij w-al:fariii~
(Tabriz: Dar al-Tiba<ah, 1305 A. H.), p. 228.
171. Sec the treatment ofl;lusayn's life and martyrdom in Shams al-Din, where this
point is stressed throughout the work.
172. Darbandi, pp. 465 ff. This view has some support in very early Shi<i tradition.
Sec Chapter 2 above on the creation of the imams and their substance, and below
in this chapter.
173. Sec Appendix C.
174. Ibn Babawayh, <[/a/, p. 227; Amiili, p. 87.
175. Ibn Babawayh, <[/a/, p. 227. The mufawwiqah were those who held that God
created the world and delegated its affairs and sustenance to <Ali.
176. Majlisi, XLIV, p. 271; Tabari, Ihtijiij, II, p. 20.
177. Ibn Qawlawayh, pp. 324 ff. This source declares that three days after the death of
an imiim or prophet his body is taken up to heaven, so nothing is found in his
tomb.
178. Ibid., pp. 324 ff.
180. Majlisi, XLV, p. 124, for his sources and variants of the tradition.
181. Mufid, pp. 229-230.
182. Tabari, Tiirikh, VI. p. 264.
183. The reference here is to a Shri assertion that l;lasan was poisoned by his wife at
the instigation of Mu<awiyah. See, for instance, Tabari, Dalii 1il, pp. 67 ff.
Notes to pp. 138-149 277
184. Ibn Tawiis, p. 14; Ibn Babawayh, Amiili, p. 71.

185. Kulayni, Kiifi, I, pp. 254-255. This tradition is reported on the authority of the
Prophet.
NoTEs TO CHAPTER 5: 'THE SIGH oF THE SoRROWFUL'
I. This phrase is part of a very important hadith attributed to the sixth Imam, Ja!far
ai-Sadiq, which will be discussed below. It is also used as the title of a book
dealing with the Mubarram traditions by the late Iranian traditionist (Abbas Ibn
Mubammad Rit;la ai-Qummi: Nafas al-mahmumfi maqtal al-Ijusayn al-Ma~/um
(!,lP n.d., completed in 1335/1916).
2. (Amili, Lawii!ij, p. 221.
3. Note for example the phrase in the Shi<i adhiin (call to prayer), 'Hasten ye to the
best of action (hayyi !alii khayr a/-(amal)', which is taken to bcjihiid.
4. Tiisi, Amii/i, I, p. 115.
5. Sec for instance the heading in Abii Ja!far Mubammad b. (Ali b. ai-I:Iusayn b.
Miisa Ibn Babawayh, Kitiib thawiib al-a!miil wa liqiib al-a!miil (Baghdad: Asad
Press, 1385/1962), p. 75, which reads 'thawiib man baka !alii ai-Ijusayn '. For a
collection of such traditions, sec Majlisi, XLIV, p. 278, and below in this chapter.
6. Ibn Qawlawayh: p. 73. Sec also Tiisi, Amiili, I, p. 116.
7. Tiisi, Amiili, I, p. 116.
8. Majlisi, XLIV, p. 278. This hadith occurs in many variants. Consult Majlisi for
his sources.
9. Ibn Babawayh, Amiili, p. 45. Sec also Majlisi, XLIV, p. 281.
10. Khawarizmi, II, p. 128; and Ibn Babawayh, Amiili, pp. 85-86.
II. Ibn Babawayh, Amiili, pp. 85-86. The fourth Imam's weeping is directly linked
to the weeping and sorrows of earlier prophets. Sec for instance in the same
work, p. 78; and Majlisi, XL VI, p. 209, for other sources.
13. Ibid., pp. 82--83.
14. The reference here is to the tradition asserting that the heavens rained blood at
the death of I:Iusayn; the rest of this statement also refers to such portents.
15. Ibn Qawlawayh, p. 80. For an interesting variant, see Tiisi, Amiili, I, p. 54.
17. Qur1an, III: 38; Arberry, I, p. 78.
18. Ibn Babawayh, Amiili, p. 78.
19. Ibid., p. 78.
20. Ibid., p. 78. Sec also Majlisi, LXIV, pp. 285-286.
21. No one can deny the far-reaching significance of these three main rituals to the
entire Muslim community. But we wish to argue here that the special rituals of
the Sh;ti community, the rituals of the ta!ziyah and ziyiirah, present an intensity
of feeling and a total encompassing of time and space unparalleled in the general
piety ofSunni Islam. In this sense, Shi<i ritual givesSh;t; piety a unique character
in Islamic religiosity.
22. Najafi, p. 298. This is a recent work, and the author does not give his source for
this tradition. He gives a number for the sons of Hashim, killed with I:Iusayn, at
278 Notes to pp. 149-155
variance with most other sources which mention 17 or 18. Cf. the tradition of the
eighth Imiim with Ibn Shabib just discussed.
23. Ibid., p. 298.
26. For a Sunni example of this tradition, see Khawarizmi, II, pp. 1 f
27. Ibn Babawayh, 1Ilal, p. 228.
28. Ibid., p. 228; and Ibn Babawayh, Amiili, pp. 77-78. Sec 1Ilal, p. 227, for still
another view of the popular 1Ashurii 1 piety attributed to the sixth lmiim. It i~ there
asserted that men actually fabricated special l!adiths claiming the day of ~shurii 1
to be a day of blessing for Yazid in quest of material rewards.
29. Ibn Babawayh, 1Ila/, p. 227.
30. On the subsequent burial ofl;Iusayn, sec Tabar!, Tiirikh, VI, p. 26; and Mufid, p.
227.
31. Ya1qiibi, II, pp. 231-232. Sec also the early tradition reported on the authority of
the sixth Imiim which is integrated directly into the drama of Karbala' in Ibn
Qawlawayh, p. 337, and Ibn Babawayh, Amiili, pp. 100-101.
32. Qn this questionable tradition is basedziyiirat al-arba 1in (theziyiirah 40 days after
1Ashurii') See Ibn Tawiis, Luhilf, pp. 109-110. For a critical view see Majlisi, CI,
p. -130 (Tehran: al-Maktabah al-Isl:imiyyah, 1389 A. H.). (Volume XXII of the old
edition deals with ziyiirah; Volumes CI and CII of the modem edition.)
33. In an early tradition attributed to the sixth Imiim, he said, 'It has reached me that
people come to l;Iusayn from the neighborhood ofKiifah, and men and women
of other places, to chant dirges for him in mid-Sha1b:in. There would be those
who read maqiitil (martyrdom narratives); others recounting [the story of
l;Iusayn's martyrdom); others chanting dirges (nadb); and still others reciting
elegies (mariithi).' Ibn Qawlawayh, pp. 325-326. The author died in 367 /977;
thus it can be safely inferred that by the early decades of the fourth century, at
any rate, the ta 1ziyah celebration had assumed its permanent character.
34. Many ShPi pietistic traditions recount the attempts of al-Mutawakkil to efface all
traces of the sacred tomb, but it is always miraculously preserved. See Ibn
Shahr:ishiib, III, pp. 221 ff.; and Tiisi, Amiili, I, pp. 330 ff. For the history of the
shrine, sec 1Amili, A 1yiin, IV, pt. I, pp. 183-207.
35. AI-Qummi, p. 226. Sec also Mul).ammad 1Aii Hibat al-Din ai-I;Iusayni al-
Shahrast:ini, Nahqat al-lfusayn, 5th ed., Publications of R:ibitat al-Nashr al-
Islami (Karbala': a!-Tal;lamun Press, 1969), pp. 149 ff. Sec the sources used by
both authors.
36. Shahrastani, pp. 159-160. Examples of the maqiitil used arc al-Luhuf oflbn T:iwiis
and Muthir a! Ahziin of Ibn N am:i al-l;Iilli. Sec the introduction to this study.
37. Shahrastani, p. 160.
38. Ibid., pp. 160-161.
39. For examples of this genre ofliterature, see The Miracle Play rifHasan and Husayn,
collected from oral tradition by Sir Lewis Pelly, revised with notes by Arthur M.
Williston (London: W. H. Allen & Co., 1879), in two volumes. The work
consists of 52 scenes presenting the entire cycle of the Mubarram drama. Sec
especially II, p. 81, for scenes dealing with martyrdom. See also C. Virolleaud, Le
Theeitre Persan ou le drame du K<rbala (Paris: Librarie d' Amerique et de !'Orient,
1950).
Notes to pp. 158-167 279
40. Turaybi, p. 141.

41. Ibn Babawayh, Thawiib, p. 76. The other tradition similar to this one is discussed
in the same context. Sec also Majlisi, XLIV, pp. 278 ff.
42. Persian poetry has dedicated much of its great genius to the memory of the
martyred Imiim. It will not be possible to enter into any discussion of this rich and
highly interesting literature. In order to make up in a small way for this
deficiency, a few examples of the most popular Persian mariithi will be given in
Appendix D to this chapter. For a fairly good sampling of Persian ta 1ziyah
poetry, sec E. G. Browne, Literary History of Persia (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1959), IV, pp. 172 ff.
43. l~fahani, Maqiitil, pp. 121 ff.
44. Early Muslim historians and traditionists differed on this point. Some assert that
it was another, Sulayman Ibn Qattah. The two men were contemporaries and
therefore it cannot be determined with certainty which of them had the honor of
being the first to mourn the Imiim in verse. In favor ofal-Sahmi, see Khawarizmi,
II, p. 150; and oflbn Qattah, sec l~fahani, pp. 121-122. For a full discussion of this
problem sec Jawad Shubbar, Adab al- Ta.ff aw Shu 1ara> al-lfusayn (Beirut: al-
Nlami Foundation, 1388/1969), I, pp. 52 ff.
45. Sec the previous note.
47. Khalid Ibn Mi 1dan. Sec Shubbar, I, p. 189; and Ibn T:iwiis, Luhiif, pp. 99-100.
The date and actual identity of this poet are uncertain.
48. The words 'alliihu akbar' were used as a war cry. Such war cries often included
utterances of praise, hence the usc of the word tahlil, meaning 'exultation'.
Khawarizmi, II, pp. 128-129.
49. Shubbar, I, p. 192.
50. Ibn al-l:lasan Ibn Abmad Ibn al-Sirri al-Kindi al-Raththa> al-Mii~uli (d. 344/955
or 360/970). Sec Shubbar, II, p. 36.
51. Kha warizmi, II, p. 152.
52. It is reported on the authority ofHil:illbn Nafi<, who said, 'I stood over him as he
breathed his last. By God, I never saw one killed, bathed in his blood, of a better
or more luminous countenance than him. I was therefore occupied by the
radiance ofhis countenance and beauty of his form, unable to think of his death.'
Ibn T:iwiis, Luhiif, p. 53.
53. Such comments about the beauty and overwhelming presence of the womenfolk
ofl:lusayn arc usually late, prefacing an oration delivered by one of the women
or part of a confrontation bctwcrn them and their captors. See for instance
Majlisi, XLV, p. 113, and many other places.
55. For these and other verses attributed to l:lusayn, sec 1Aqqad, p. 42.
56. For traditions about al-Rabab's life and death, see Shubbar, I, p. 62.
57. Ibid., p. 62.
58. This was the poem recited to the sixth Imiim by Abii 1Imarah ai-Munshid. Sec
page 159 ~hove.
59. Shubbar, I, pp. 198-200.
60. Ibid., p. 198.
61. Shubbar, II, p. 214.
62. See Shubbar, I, pp. 54-57. See also note 44 above.
280 Notes to pp. 167-181
63. Shubbar, [, p. 54.

64. <Alilbn Isbaq al-Zahl, 318/930-352/%3. Shubbar, II, pp. 53-54. We shall discuss
one of al-Zahi's poems below.
65. This poet is quoted by al-Turayl}.i, in his work al-Muntakhab, but he does not
give the name of the poet. Rather he uses 'wa-li-llah darru man qal min al-rijal'.
Turayl;tihimselfdied in 1085/1674. From the language and ideas of the poem, it
appears that the poet may have been one of his contemporaries.
66. See Qur>an, XXI: 69.
67. Turaybi, p. 105.
68. The author heard this poem chanted often in the <Ashiira> celebrations. It is
similarly quoted by al-Turaybi as a prelude to the majlis for the first day of
Mubarram. See Turaybi, p. 3.
69. The sun in Arabic is feminine; hence the simile of a woman in mourning.
70. Turaybi, p. 3.
71. Di<biJlived a long life, 148/765-246/860. He knew the sixth, seventh, and eighth
Imam! and was highly favored by tpem. See Shubbar, I, pp. 297
72. Shi<r Di<bil b. <All al-Khuza<r, com_p. Dr. <Abd al-Karim al-Ashtar (Damascus:
al-Majma< al-<Ilmi aJ-<Arabi, n.d.), p. 231. For the entire poem, see pp. 225-242.
See also Diwiin Di<bil b. <Ali al-Khuzii<i, ed. <Abd aHial,.ib al-Dijli (Najaf: al-Adab
Press, 1962), pp. 99 ff.
73. Shi<r Di<bil b. <Ali al-Khuza<;, p. 231.
74. Diwan Di<bi/, p. 245. For the entire section of this poem, entitled 'al-Maqtal', see
pp. 245-250.
75. Shubbar, H, p. 20.
76. Ibid., n, p. 31.
77. Shubbar, II, p. 54.
78. Majlisi, XLV, p. 115. There is no mention ofanyotherpoetry attributed to her in
earlier sources, which may indicate the inauthcnticity of this poem.
79. Ibid., p. 115.
80. Sec Shubbar, I, p. 75, for a discussion of the sources. This also is a late poem.
81. Ibid., I, p. 75.
82. Majlisi, XLV, pp. 197-198.
83. Shubbar, I, p. 158. Sec also Ibn Shahrashiib, III, p. 257.
84. Shubbar, I, p. 160. See also pp. 158-160 for the entire section on Sukaynah.
86. See Chapter 4 above, and Ibn Shahrashiib, III, pp. 216 ff., for the original talc.
87. Khawarizmi, II, p. 137. Sec also pp. 139-140 for a similar poem by an unknown
author.
88. Khawarizmi, II, pp. 146-147.
89. Ibid., p. 147.
90. Turaybi, pp. 60-61. The poet is sa<id Ibn al-Nili (d. 565/1169).
92. On the concept of haram in ancient Arabic culture, sec Ilii '[aha 1-f.usayn (Taha
l::lusayn Festschrift), ed. <Abd al-Ra]Jman Badawi (Mi~r, Egypt, 1962), the article
entitled l:iaram and l:iawtah, by R. B. Sargeant, pp. 41-58.
93. See Chapter 4 above, p. 123.
94. The tradition is found in some of the earliest sources and has a complete isniid
going back to Abii al-Jariid, a well-known contemporary and disciple of the
Notes to pp. 181-192 281
fourth and fifth Imams and an important authority in the chains of isniid of early
Sh i'i hadith.
~ 95. Ibn Qawlawayh, p. 268.
, %. Ibid., p. 268.
. 97. Ibid., p. 267.
98. Ibid., p. 267.
99. Tusi, Amii/i, I, p. 323. For a number ofsuch traditions drawn from many sources,
sec Majlisi, XLIV: pp. 221 fT., and Ibn Qawlawayh, pp. 271-273.
t 00. Tusi, Ama/i, I, p. 328.
101. Ibn Qawlawayh, pp. 266-267.
102. Ibid., p. 267.
103. For an expression of the idea of concrete material rewards for the pilgrimage to
Karbala>, sec Ibn Shahrashub, III, pp. 272-273.
104. Ibn Qawlawayh, p. 52. Sec also Mufid, p. 235.
106. Qur1iin, XIX: 22.
107. Majlisi, CI, p. 116.
109. Ibid., p. 161. See also Ibn Shahrashub, III, p. 273; and Ibn Babawayh, Thawiib, pp.
76-77.
110. For a description of these youths of paradise, sec Qur1iin, LXXVI: 19.
Ill. Ibn Qawlawayh, p. 81.
112. The tradition is related on the authority of the sixthimiim. For the entire text, see
Ibid., pp. 80-82.
113. Ibid., pp. 112fT., for this and other such traditions.
114. Ibid., p. 130; and Ibn Biibawayh, Thawab, pp. 75fT.
115. Ibn Qawlawayh, p. 131. See also Majlisi, CI, p. 141.
116. Majlisi, CI, p. 103.
117. Ibid., pp. 103-104. Sec the entire chapter, pp. 103-106. Sec also Ibn Qawlawayh,
pp. 174-175, where even greater rewards arc promised.
'119. Ibid., p. 179.
120. Ibid., pp. 175 f The man was called <Alqamah on whose authority some of the
most important ziyarah texts, both from the fifth and sixth imams, were
reported.
121. Ibid., p. 179.
122. Ibid., p. 179. The author took part in this ziyiirah in 1971 in Mashhad, Iran. The
experience was a powerful one indeed.
123. Ibid., pp. 194fT.
124. For an example sec ibid., p. 198.
125. Ibid., p. 199.
126. Ibid., pp. 199-200.
127. Ibid., p. 230. Thisziyarah is also quoted by Ibn Babawayh in his canonicalhadith
collection. Man La Yah4uruhu al-Faqih, in the section onziyiirah which naturally
follows that on the hajj. The author comments that this ziyaralz was one of the
earliest and most trustworthy ziyiirahs he had seen. See Ibn Babawayh, Man La
Yahquruhu al-Faqih (Najaf: Dar ai-Islamiyyah, 1378/1958), II, pp. 359-360.
128. Ibn Qawlawayh, p. 222. For the entire text, see pp. 222-244.
282 Notes to pp. 193-201
129. Ibid., p. 315.

130. Ibid., p. 315.
131. Majlisi, en, pp. 198-199.
132. Ibid., en, p. 198.
133. Ibid., en. p. 198.
134. Ibid., en, p. 199.
135. Kulayni, Kiifi, I, p. 257.
136. John XVII.
NoTES TO CHAPTER 6: 'AT THE PooL OF AL-KAWTHAR'
1. The word~awcflitet;ally means 'tank' or 'basin'. The concept as it will appear in

this chapter is not found in the Qurlan, but rather in~ad'ith and popular tradition.
Al-kawthar is a river, the name derived from the root kathara meaning abun-
dance. Hence it is seen in popular tradition as a river of paradise, and often ~aw4
and kawthar are used interchangeably. In addition to these denotations the
words hawd al-kawthar are used in the traditions that we shall discuss below to
symbolize ~he bliss, comfort and riches of believers in the hereafter. This latter
signification must be borne in mind for our discussion in this chapter. For the
Qur1anic usage of al-kawthar, see Qur>an, CVIII: 1.
2. See Chapter 1, p. 24, and especially note 6, p. 260.
3. Qur1an, VII: 17 and XXVIII: 5. For an interesting paralleL see also Matthew
V: 5.
4. See Chapter 2, p. 66, and Kulayni, Kiifi, l, p. 391.
5. Kulayni, Kii.fi, I, pp. 256-263.
6. See his article, specifically on Kitiib a/-1-Jujjah in Kulayni's ai-Kiji: Henri Corbin,
'De Ia philosophic prophetique en Islam Shi'ite', Eranos)ahrbuch, XXXI (1962),
pp. 49-116.
7. For the concept of Christ as the Logos see John 1-111. The new testament often
hints at Christ bearing the marks of his crucifixion after his resurrection and in
heaven; they will be displayed on the Day ofJudgment. See Revelations XIX:
11-14, but especially the interesting sermon of Saint John Chrysostom on The
Lord's Passion or The Cross and the Good Thief, spuriously attributed to Saint
Augustine inPatrologia Latina, XXXIX, pp. 2047 ff. For an interesting parallel to
this image of Christ, see Chapter 4, p. 136.
8. C, the traditions of the hunger and generosity of the Holy Family, discussed in
Chapter 1, pp. 43-45.
9. Qur1an, II: 156. Ibn Qawlawayh, p. 333.
10. See the story of the plagues in Exodus VIII-XI, where this idea is repeatedly
emphasized.
12. See below in this chapter.
14. The analogy here is made with Abraham as the Qur 1anic text asserts, '0 fire, be
coolness and safety for Abraham'; Qu:r1an, XXI: 69; Arberry, II, p. 22.
Notes to pp. 201-210 283
15. Ibn Babawayh, Amiili, p. 68.

16. Ibn Baba way h. Thawiib, p. 195. W c shall have to return later to this tradition. Cf.
the statement of the sixth Imiim that on the Day ofJudgment f:lusayn will come,
his blood gushing out from the wounds of his martyrdom. He will be accom-
panied by the Prophet who will protest to God, saying, ' ... My Lord ask my
community (ummah) why they did that to my son.' Tiisi, Amiili, p. 162.
17. A paradisial water mentioned in the Qurlan, LXXXIII: 27.
18. The ~irii( (straight path) mentioned in the Qurlan, I: 5, denotes simply the straight
way ofliving aright. In popular tradition, however, the ~irii( is seen as a bridge
between heaven and hell over which all men must cross.
20. Al-wasflah means 'medium, device, means or station'. Although the last meaning
is directly intended in this tradition, 'means' is also implied. To avoid confusion,
the Arabic word will be used in most cases.
21. Ibn Babawayh, Amiili, pp. 71-72.
22. Sec Ibn Babawayh, Ikmiil, p. 27.
23. This term or relationship between the Prophet and' Ali is of great importance for
Shi'i theology. See our discussion of this point in Chapter 3, p. 73.
24. Ibn Babawayh, Amiili, p. 85. Sec also Majlisi, XLIV, pp. 221 ff., for other such
traditions.
25. This analogy is used to describe the Mal1di during his concealment, but in the
same context it is carried further to apply to all the imiims before him. See Majlisi,
Lll, p. 93. This is volume Xlll of the old edition dealing with theMahdi; volumes
Ll, LII, and LIII of the modern edition (Tehran: al-Maktabah al-Islamiyyah, 1384
A. H).
26. Qur 1an, IX: 105; Arberry, I, p. 219.
27. Kulayni, Kii.fi, I, p. 319.
28. Ibid., p. 386. The text under discussion is important and brief enough to be
reproduced in transliteration. 'Im1a alliiha ghaqiba 'alii al-shi'ahfa khayyarani nafsi
aw hum fawaqaytuhum w-alliihi bi-uafsi.'
30. See note 17 above.
32. W. T. DeBary, cd. Sources <if japanese Tradition (New York: Columbia Uni-
versity Press, 1958), I, p. 204 and especially pp. 206-212.
33. See the illuminating study by T. lzutsu, The Concept of Beli1f in Islamic Theology
(Yokohama: Yurindo Publishing Company, 1965), p. 166.
34. See Chapter 2 above, and below in this chapter.
35. This tradition is reported on the authority of the fifth lmiim. Sec Tiisi, Amiili, I, p.
65.
36. Ibid., p. 65.
38. This phrase is borrowed from the prophet Isaiah with which he described the
small and faithful community which will stand firm in the face of cataclysmic
events. The phrase fits, we think, the Shi'i community from the point of view of
our investigation. See Isaiah VII: 10-17 and X: 20-23.
39. Sec the interesting traditions dealing with the martyrdom of Zayd, the son of
'Ali, son ofl;Iusayn and the imprisonment, exile and martyrdom of others of the
284 Notes to pp. 210-220
descendants of 1Ali and Fa,imah in Khawarizmi, II, pp. 112 f(, and Ibn Shah-
rashiib, II, pp. 55 ff.
41. See Chapter 4, p. 125 and Tabari, Da/ijlj{, p. 78.
42. Sec, for instance, the remarks of Majlisi, LIII, pp. 2 ff.
44. Ibid., pp. 68-69.
45. Sec Qur'iin, XXI: 105, and XXVIII: 5.
46. Ibn Shahrashiib, III, p. 107.
47. This is an artificial play on the wordja(ama, 'to wean'. Thus she is called Fatimah
because God weaned her (ja(amaha) from the fire. See Khawarizmi, I, p. 51, and
the following note.
48. Ibid., p. 108.
49. Ibid., p. 108.
50. Sec Khawarizmi, I, p. 52.
51. 1Amili,Jawiihir, p. 247.
53. Sec Ibn Biibawayh, Thawiib, p. 196; and for different versions of this tradition,
sec Ibn Tiiwiis, Luhiif, pp. 77-79.
54. Ibn Biibawayh, Thawiib, p. 195.
55. Revelations 1: 7.
56. Quoted by Majlisi from Muntakhab al-Ba~ii 1ir by al-l;lasan Ibn Sulayman, which
is not available to the author. Majlisi, LIII, p. 46.
57. Rat;li al-Din 1Ali b. Miisa b.Ja'far b. Mubammad Ibn Tiiwiis al-Baghdadi (known
as Ibn Tiiwiis), Kitiib a/-Maliil,im w-al-Fitan (Najaf: l;laydariyyah Press, 1368
A.H.), p. 103. See also pp. 104-109 for many variants of this tradition.
58. For a comprehensive study of the Mahdi, reference must be made to the Ph.D.
dissertation presented by AI-Aziz Sachcdina, University of Toronto, Canada,
Spring, 1976.
59. Ibn Babawayh, Ikmiil, the chapter entitled Ghaybiit al-Anbiyii 1, pp. 125 ff.
60. Abiija'far Mubammad Ibn Ya1qiib Ibn Isbaq al-Kulayni al-Riizi, a/-Rawt/ah min
al-Kiifi, cd. 1Aii Akbar al-Ghif:iri (Tehran: ai-Maktabah al-Islamiyyah, l;laydari
Press, n. d.), p. 294. This promise ofstrength and conflict occurs in many traditions
attributed to many of the imams. Sec, for instance, Majlisi, LII, pp. 122 ff. and
279 ff.
61. See the chapter entitled alqiibuhu wa-asmii 1uhu wa-kuniih in Majlisi, LI, pp. 28 ff.,
where most of these names and titles arc collected from many sources.
62. According to some early sources, he was born on the fifteenth of Sha1biin
256/870. For many of the traditions concerning his birth, see Majlisi, LI, pp. 3 f(
63. Mas1iidi, Ithbiit, p. 249. For a comprehensive discussion, see Majlisi, LI, pp. 3 ff.
64. For Shi'i accounts of the infancy of Moses, sec Ibn Biibawayh, Ikmiil, pp.
150-151.
66. See ibid., p. 249; and Kulayni, Kiifi, I, pp. 449-468, for the problems of the
Mahdi's birth and the authorities' search for him.
68. Ibn Biibawayh, 1Ila/, p. 246.
69. Qur1iin, V: 10; Arberry, I, p. 144.
Notes to pp. 221-227 285
70. Tabarsi, Il,tijiij, II, p. 284.

71. Ibn Babawayh, (IIa/, p. 244.
72. Ibid., pp. 246-247.
73. Tabarsi, Il,tijiij, II, p. 50. Sec also Majlisi, LII, pp. 122-123. For similar assertions
sec pp. 124-126.
74. Ibid., pp. 124-125. .
75. Thus ai-Mufid (d. 413/1022) relates (on the authority oflbn Qawlawayh [d.
367 /978], who reports on the authority of ai-Kulayni, who traces it back to the
sixth or fifth Imiim) that bloody conflicts in the family of( Abbas over authority
must precede the coming of the Mahdl. Sec Mufid, pp. 325 ff., and Majlisi, LII,
pp. 191 ff., for his sources.
76. It is alleged that Y azid sent a large army against Medina under the leadership of
Muslim b. (Uqbah. The men of the holy city were put to the sword and the
women violated. See Ibn Qutaybah, Imiimah, pp. 209 f See also Majlisi, LII, p.
181, where most of the traditions concerning al-Sufyani arc collected. Sec also
the long and fantastic talc related on the authority of ai-Mufat;lc;lal in LIII, pp.
10-11.
77. Ibn Bibawayh, Ikmiil, p. 447; and Majlisi, LII, p. 192.
78. Mufid, p. 336.
79. The appearance of al-Dajjiil and later of Christ, who will pray behind the Mahdi,
is reported in many popular Muslim sources. In most Shi'-i works on the Mahdi,
a/-Da.fjii/ is mentioned, but he plays a very minor role. Sec for the Shri traditions,
Majlisi, LII, pp. 181 ff.
80. Matthew XXIV: 3-33.
81. Mufid, pp. 328-329. Sec also Majlisi, LII, pp. 182 ff.
82. Other striking examples arc Jewish eschatology, especially of the post-biblical
period, and the concept of the Saoshyant, the future savior, in Zoroastrianism.
83. Sec, for example, Tiisi, Amiili, II, p. 168; Mufid, p. 341; and, for other sources,
Majlisi, LII, p. 285.
84. Mufid, pp. 341-342.
85. Qur>an, XIX: 55; Arbcrry, I, p. 334.
87. Ibid., p. 65.
88. Qur>an, XXIV: 50; Arberry, II, p. 53.
89. Shaykh Abii (Abdallah Mubammad b. Ibrahim b. Ja(far (known as al-Katib
ai-Nu(miini, or Ibn Ahi Zaynab, a well known disciple of ai-Kulayni), Kitiib
al-Ghaybah, ed. Mirza Wali Allah al-Ishriiqi (Tabriz: Maktabat al-Sabiri, 1383
A.H.), p. 147.
90. For a good view of the complexity of this literature, sec Majlisi, LII, pp. 181-306.
91. Mufid, p. 342.
92. Qur>an, XI: 86; Arberry, I, p. 249.
93. Majlisi, LII, p. 192.
94. Ibid., p. 306. See also Ibn Qawlawayh, p. 120, for a somewhat different version.
95. Majlisi, LIII, p. 9.
96. Ibid., pp. 9-10.
97. On the laying of the foundations of the Ka(bah by Abraham and Ishmael, see
Qur>an, II: 127 and XXII: 26. There is no reference in the Qur>an to Adam having
built the Ka(bah. This perhaps is a late tradition.
286 Notes to pp. 227-236
98. For the justification of this act, see the argument of the sixth Imam. Ibn Babawayh,
'Ilal, pp. 229-230.
99. Mufid, pp. 340-341.
100. Ibid., p. 339.
101. Tabarsi, IJ,tijaj, II, p. 11.
102. Sec Isaiah, XI.
103. Sec Revelations, XXI: 1.
104. Qur)an, XXXIX: 69.
105. Mufid, p. 342.
106. Quoted from Muntakhab al-Ba~a)ir, as arc all of the traditions dealing with the
raJ'ah of l;lusayn, in Majlisi, LIII, p. 39.
108. Ibid., pp. 61-63.
109. Ibn Biibawayh, Thawiib, p. 195.
111. Ibid., p. 42. Sec Qurlan, II: 210; Arbcrry, I, p. 56.
113. Qur)an, XIV: 48; Arbcrry, I, p. 279.
114. Qur)an, XL: 16.
NOTES TO 'CONCLUSION'
1. See T. Jacobsen, Towards an Image if Tammuz and other Essays on Mesopotamian

Religi11n and Culture, cd. W. L. Moren (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University
Press, 1970), pp. 73 ff.
2. Sec Isaiah, XLIX to LIII.
3. Sec the interesting study by Christopher F. North, The Suffering Servant in
Dcutem-Isaiah: An Historical and Critical Study (London: Oxford University Press,
I st cd. 1948, reprinted in lithograph 1950).
4. For a sustained expression of this idea, see the weekly periodical al-Bayiin
(Baghdad), edited and published by 1Aii al-Khaqani. In every year of its four-year
history the periodical devoted one month of its issues to the memory ofl;lusayn.
Articles were supplied by both Sh;ii and Sunni lulamal and academic people as well
as government officials. For very good examples, sec Nos. 11-14 Qanuary 1947)
and Nos. 34-39 (December 1947).
5. 1Abd ai-Rai}.man ai-Sharqawi, Thalr Allah: A Play in Two Volumes, II, al-ffusayn
Shahidan (Cairo: Dar al-Katib ai(Arabi li-1-Tiba'ah w-al-Nashr, 1388/1969),

pp. 283-286.
NOTES TO 'APPENDICES'

2. Ibid., pp. 225-227; sec Qurlan, XXXVII: 107.
3. Majlisi, XLIV, pp. 308-309.
Notes to pp. 236-251 28i
4. Ibid., pp. 308-310.

5. Ibid., pp. 252-254; Ibn Babawayh, Amali, Majlis LXXXVII: pp. 355-357.
6. Qurlan, III: 42-43; Arberry, I, p. 79; the tradition here quoted substitutes
'Fatimah' for 'Mary'.
7. Ibn Babawayh, Amali, p. 70.
8. A rak 1ah is a section of the ritual prayers which constitutes a complete cycle;
standing, genuflecting, and prostrating. It is common to pray a few rak 1ahs
unintended for any of the five daily prayers in time of difficulty or need.
9. See Qurlan, V: 112-115.
10. Qur.lan, III: 37; Arberry, I, p. 78.
11. Many of the meal traditions, so to speak, include the cloak (kisal) tradition and it is
often difficult to distinguish clearly one of these traditions from the others.
12. Of the many sources that relate this tradition, sec for example Khawarizmi, Il, p.
97.
13. Abii Mubammad al-l;Iasan b. 1Aiib. al-l;Iusayn b. Shu< bah al-l;Iarrani, Kitiib Tuhaf
al- 1Uqiil 'an AI ai-Rasiil, 3rd cd., ed. Mu}Jammad Sadiq Ba}Jr aJ-IUiiim (Najaf:
l;Iaydariyyah Press, 1382/1962), p. 170.
14. Sec Chapter 4 for details.
15. Irbili, p. 202. The author quotes this poem from a very early source. Sec also
16. al-l;Iarrani, p. 174.
17. The custom in ancient Arabia was that when two infants of different parents are
nursed by the same woman (normally hired for this purpose) the two infants were
regarded as 'brothers (or sisters) in nursing'.
18. The reference is to Ibn Ziy:id's adoption into the family of Mu1awiyah. Sec
Chapter 4 for details.
19. al-l;Iarrani, p. 171.
20. Ibid., p. 175.
22. Majlisi, XLIV, p. 193. See also Ibn Shahrashiib, III, pp. 224-225.
23. Published by al-Andalus Press, Beirut, 1964.
24. Compare the argument of the twelfth Imam in Ibn Babawayh, 1Ilal, pp. 241-242.
25. Haft, p. 115 ff.
26. Qurlan, XXXVII: 107.
27. This curious assertion has no basis in general Shi'i tradition.
28. Qurlan, IV: 157-158; Arbcrry, I, p. 123.
29. Qurlan, XXXVII: 102-107.
30. Haft, pp. 120 fT.
31. The words anta allah alladhi Iii ilaha illa huwa al-hayy al-qayyum w-al-mumit
w-al-muhiy arc Qurlanic expressions of God's eternity and omnipotence. They
also imply the shahiidah (profession of faith in one God). Sec Qurlan, II: 255 and
VII: 158.
32 All three selections are taken from the book, Hamisheh bahiir (Tehran,Jahan Press,
1348 A. H.), a collection of popular elegies and eulogies of the imams compiled by
l;Iajj l;Iasan Najyan.
33. Ibid., p. 185.
34. Ibid., (By) Saghir I~fahani, p. 186.
35. Ibid., (By) Mir Abii-1 Qasim Zawqi, p. 183.
288 Notes to pp. 254-258
36. Sec Majlisi, CI, p. 328.

37. Qur1an, VI: 65, and XI: 50.
38. Qur1an, VII: 73, and XI: 61.
39. Qur1an, XXXVII: 107.
41. Qur'an, XXVII: 17 and 18.
42. Qur1an, LXVIII: 48-58.
43. See Chapter 1, p. 36, above.
44. See Chapter I, p. 36, above, and Ibn Shahrashiib, III, p. 328.
45. Qur1an, IV: 171.
46. Qur>an, Llll: 14.
47. Qur1an, LIII: 15.
48. Majlisi, CI, pp. 317-328.
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Index of Names
Aaron, 35, 73, 74, 255, 267 1Ali Zayn al-'Abidin, 36, 38, 46, 74, 88,
al-1Abbas, 111, 117 104,111-112,113,119,120,143-144,
1Abda!Hih Ibn al-I:Iasan, 117 152, 153, 173-174, 181, 183, 185, 190,
'Abdallah Ibn Ja1far, 104 221-222,277
'Abdallah Ibn 1Umar, 95, 201 1Amr Ibn Sa 1id, 104
'Abdallah Ibn Yaqtiir, 105, 106 al-An~ari, 1Abd al-RaQ.man Ibn 1Abd
1Abd al-Malik Ibn Niyun, 218 Rabbih, 113
1Abd al-RaQ.man b. Abii Bakr, 95 Anti-Christ, see al-Dajjiil
Abel, 27, 37, 78 al-A~bagh Ibn Nabatah, 85
Abraham, 32, 57, 63, 96, 168, 226, 227, Sharik al-Nwar, 102
246, 250, 255, 261; and Ishmael,
32-33, 73, 235-236; at Karbalal, 33 al-Baqir, Mubammad, 30, 31, 34, 63,
Abii Bakr, 48, 49, 95, 209 122,139,188-189,207,214,216,218,
Abii Ba~ir, 55, 144, 145 223, 228
Abii Dharr, 51 Barir Ibn Khudayr, 113
Abii Hurayrah, 213
Abii <Imarah al-Munshid, 159 Cain, 78
Abii al-Khattab, 211, 228
Abii Mikhnaf, 101, 110 al-Dajjal, 223, 285
Abii Sa<id al-Khudri, 25-26, 202 David, 63, 136, 168, 255
Abii Sufyan, 100 Di1bil Ibn 1Ali al-Khuza1i, 17~172
Adam, 27-29, 31, 63, 73, 150, 168, 192,
226, 227, 254; and the Fall, 59-61; at al-Farazdaq, 103, 241
Karbala 1, 28, 30 Fa~imah, 29, 31, 38, 45, 54, 55, 56, 57,
1A 1ishah, 80 58,60,61,63, 79,81-82,83,128,154,
1Ali Ibn AbiTalib, 27, 29, 31, 38, 4~4. 160, 165, 170, 174, 175, 179-180,211,
45, 5~51, 54. 55, 56, 58, 60, 63, 64, 219, 250, 255, 258; and the birth of
69, 71,72-73, 79,83,86,88, 108,127, I:Iusayn, 70-72, 74, 75-76; in
128, 136, 150, 163, 165, 179, 190, 192, eschatology, 198, 212-216, 228; and
215,216,219,222,240,245,249,250, Mary, 35, 42, 78, 239; sufferings of,
255; in esc):tatology, 200-204, 206, 16, 18, 24-25, 40, 41, 43-44, 48-51,
207-208,209,210,224,225,226,229; 144-145, 200, 238-239
and the imamate, 30, 48-49, 84, 267; Fatimah al-Kubra, 131-132
at Karbala>, 237-238 Fatimah al-Sughra, 129, 173
1Ali al-Akbar, 87, 117, 157 Futrus, 77
Main entries represent the name or epithet most commonly used.
294 Index of names
Gabriel, 27-28, 31, 33, 34, 38-39, 44, 45, l;lusayn, 32, 33, 235--236, 246, 247,
60, 63, 66, 70, 72, 73, 75, 77, 78, 255; at Karba)a>, 34
81-83, 124, 134, 182, 184, 210, 227, Izra<iJ, 72
248, 249, 251, 256
Jabalah ai-Makiyyah, ISO
l;labib Ibn Mu~ahir, 115--116 Jabir Ibn <Abdallah ai-An~ari, 49, 63
l;lamid, l;lamid Ibn Muslim, 118, 119 Jacob, 91, 144, 168, 255
Hanilbn <urwah al-Muradi, 101-102, Ja<far al-Sadiq, 26, 51, 55, 58, 59, 61~2.
253 63, 64, 65, 69, 76, so. 90, 118, 125,
l;lan?alah Ibn Sa<d al-Shami, 116 135, 142, 143, 144, 145, 149, 158, 159,
l;lasan, 29, 31, 40, 43, 45, 47, 56, 57, 58, 180, 181, 186, 187, 188, 190, 193,
60, 71, 73, 79, 84, 97, 128, 175, 178, 195--196,206,208,209,2 11,212,216,
179,192,200,201,221,2 24,225,240, 220,225,226,227,228,2 29,235,245,
246, 255; and l;lusayn, 67, 69, 80-82, 246, 247, 248, 249
83, 88, 94, 114, 138 Jesus, 24, 30, 42, 62, 63, 64, 71, 72, 73,
l;lasan al-Askari, 220 116, 121, 126, 136, 168, 192, 195, 199,
al-l;limyari, Isma<n Ibn Mui)ammad, 201,204,216--217,219,2 23,224,226,
165-166 231, 246--247, 248, 255; at Karba1a>,
Hind, 130 34-36, 185, 237-238
l;lumran Ibn Nyun, 228 John the Baptist, 34, 35, 36, 245, 246,
al-l;lurr Ibn Yazid ai-Riyai)i, 106--107, 255,262
109, 115 Joseph, 63, 91, 255
Joshua, 35, 226
Ibn <Abbas, 40, 104, 237, 238

Ka<b ai-Ai)bar, 27, 37
Ibn <Adi, al-Tirmal), 108-109
al-Kabili, Abu Khalid, 221-222
Ibn Bakir, 135
al-Ka?im, Musa, 205
Ibn al-l;lanafiyyah, 84-85, 98, 103
Khadijah, 244, 255
Ibn Muljam, 136
Khaythamah, 62
Ibn Sa<d, <umar, 85, 100, 105, 109-110,
al-Khi<;lr, 136, 250
Ill, 115, 119, 126, 133, 151, 152, 166,
170, 174, 248-249
Ibn Shabib, al-Rayyan, 146--147 Mahdi, 18-19,29,59,63,64,69, 84, 125,
Ibn Ziyad, <ubaydallah, tOO, 101, 102, 146,170,179,189,198,2 00,201,209,
104, 105, 106, 109, 110, 111, 115, 210,212,216--229,232- 233,245,254,
119-120, 128, 137, 151, 152, 242, 248, 262, 263, 265, 266
253 Malik, 74, 203
Ibn al-Zubayr, <Abdallah, 95, 96, 97, Mariyah, 83
129 Marwan Ibn al-l;lakam, 95, 96
Ibrahim, 82-83 Mary, 35, 51, 64, 72, 78, 185, 219, 239,
Isaac, 246, 247, 255 240, 263
l~fahani, Fayiz, 250 Masma<, 206, 208
Ishmael, 73, 226, 227, 247, 255; and Mikh:til, 72, 210, 249, 256
Index of names 295
Moses, 34, 62, 63, 64, 73, 99, 136, 168, al-Rida 1, 1Ali, 60, 61, 65-66, 146, 150,
185, 192, 226, 236, 255 151, 193, 205
Mu1awiyah, 88, 93, 97, 100, 276; death Ric;iwan, 47, 74, 203
of, 94-95, 96 Ruqayyah, 157-158
Mu1awiyah Ibn Wahb, 195
al-Mufac;lc;lal, Ibn 1Umar al-Ju1fi, 58, Sa1d Ibn Abi Waqqas, 25
142,190,210-211,226,245,246,247, Safwan ai-Jammal, 185-186
248, 249 ai-Sahmi, (lqbah Ibn (Amr, 160-161
Mui)ammad, 30, 31, 37, 42, 43, 44, 45, Sa1id al-f:lanafi, 115
49, 50, 54, 56, 58, 60, 62-63, 64, 67, Salman al-farsi, 79, 84, 240
71,72-73,79-83,84,85,96,101,107, al-Sanawbari, Ai)mad Ibn Mui)ammad
114, 119, 121-122, 124, 127, 128, 130, Ibn al-}::lasan, 172
134,136, 139,160, 171, 174, 178, 179, Satan, 107-229; and Adam and Eve, 60,
186,189,192,193,199,201,216,217, 61; at Karba!a>, 229
218,219,221,235,239-240,247,250, Sarjun, 100
254, 255, 256, 258; and the birth of Seth, 30, 73, 226, 254
f:lusayn, 73, 74, 75, 76; in eschato- ai-Shaffi, Mul}ammad Ibn ldris,
logy, 197-198, 202-204, 207-208, 166-167
210, 224-225, 226; told of the mar- Shimr, Ibn Dhi al-Jawshan, 108, 111,
tyrdom of l:lusayn, 38, 70, 76-79, 119, 127, 167, 171
109, 150, 182-183 Simon Peter, 35, 73, 203-204, 219, 226
Mu1izz al-Dawlah, 153 Sinan Ibn Anas al-Nakh1i, 119
al-Mukhtar Ibn 1Ubaydallah al- ai-Sirri, 163-164
Thaqafi, 101, 152 Sudayr, 220
al-Musili, al-Saqr, 172 al-Sufyani, (Uthm:in Ibn (Andasa, 222
Muslim Ibn 1Aqil, 99, 102, 104-105, Sukaynah, 126, 164, 175--176, 178,
106, 112, 242, 252, 253 179-180, 252, 253
Muslim Ibn 1Awsajah, 112-113, Sulayman Ibn Qattah, 167
115-116 Sumayyah, 100
al-Mutawakkil, 153, 183
al-Ta1i, Ja 1far Ibn 1Affiin, 162-163
Narjis, 219-220 al-Tammar, Maytham, 150
al-Nashr al-Saghir 1Ali Ibn Wa~if, 154,
177-178 1Umar, 48, 49, 95, 209
Noah, 116, 168, 192, 226, 255; at Kar- aJ-IUmari, Mul}ammad Ibn 1Uthman,
bala1, 31-32 220
ai-Nu 1man Ibn Bashir, 99-100 Umm al-fac;il, 74
Umm Ayman, 38
Umm Kulthum, 129, 173, 174-175
al-Qa1im, see Mahdi Umm Salamah, 37, 72, 77, 80, 90-91,
al-Qasim, 117 204
1Uqbah Ibn Sam1an, 110
al-Rabab, 164 1Uthman Ibn 1Affiin, 110

296 Index of names
ai-Walid Ibn 1Utbah, 95-97 al-Zahi, 1Aii Ibn lsl,laq, 167-168,

172-173
Zal,lr Ibn Qays, 137
Zayd Ibn Arqam, 120, 133
Yal;lya Ibn Sa1id, 104 Zaynab, 38, 113, 119, 126, 129,
Yazid, 33, 35, 36, 78, 82, 93, 94-95, 96, 130-131, 157, 171, 173-174, 183
97, 98, 99, 100, 103, 104, 110, 120, Zechariah, 34, 36, 146, 240, 245, 246,
128-130, 133, 134, 137, 151, 152, 157, 255,263
161, 179, 222, 223, 243, 253 Zirarah, Ibn Nyun, 145
Yazid Ibn Khawli ai-A~bal,li, 119, 127 Ziyad, 100
Yiinus Ibn Zibyan, 190 Zuhayr Ibn ai-Qayn ai-Bajli, 108, 109
Index of Subjects
1Abbasids, 143, 153, 162, 206, 219, 221, ghulat, 64, 135
222, 232
ahl al-bayt, 27, 32, 43, 72, 89, 92, 112, ~adith, al-nabawi, 213; al-wasilah,
126,132,143,166,201,209,210,213, 202-203, 283; sources for, 20; qudsi,
214, 215, 252, 255 56, 124, 183
ahl al-kisii 1, 37, 39, 166, 184, 240, 261, ~ajj, 99, 103, 149, 182, 183, 188, 253,
287 256
amiinah, 52, 53, 58, 59, 61, 198 ~alii/, 63, 107
amr, 55, 193 l;lamdanid, 153
aifiyii 1, 31 ~aram, 41, 104, 181-182, 250, 257,
1Ashurii 1, 32, 91, 147, 149-151, 280
155-157,169,176,241,252, 254,278; ~ariim. 63, 66, 107
Jewish observance, 151 ~awd al-kawthar, 18, 196, 198, 201,
awliyii 1, 45, 53, 58, 87, 201, 204, 211, 205-209, 211, 282
212, 214, 215, 245, 247, 248 hijiib, 204, 213
aw~iyii 1 , 30, 33, 62, 65, 186, 218, 247 houris, 29, 74, 75, 113, 177, 186, 187,
238, 258
Badr, 108, 124-125, 128, 225, 226 hujjah, 58,66, 71,84, 145,199,200,218,
barakah, 16, 46, 64, 77, 211 229, 246, 254, 264
bay 1ah, 4~9. 95-96, 124, 193-194,221, Ijusay11iyyah, 154, 155
226, 227, sec alS<l mu~iifaqah
bayt al-a~zii11, 16-17, 25, 26, 37, 39, 48, 1ilm, 30, 85
52, 144, 145, 175, 205, 213, 260 imiimah, 37, 61, 65, 66, 70, 73, 74, 76, 79,
bayt a/-uubuwwah, 42, 96 83-85, 86, 186, 219, 257, 262, 267,
Book of 1Ali, 26, 260 269
Buwayhids, 153, 232 imams, 16, 17-19, 29-30, 31, 33, 41, 51,
52, 53, 54-57, 57-68, 69-70, 71, 73,
dhii al-fiqar, 66, 229, 257 75, 76, 79,84,85,86, 90,97-98,114,
dii1a, 189, 195, 258 124, 134-135, 138, 139, 143, 148, 150,
152-153,158, 160, 168, 170, 180, 185,
Fadak, 49, 263 186, 187, 189, 190, 191, 192-193,
Fa~imids, 133, 153 197-199,201,204-205,207,209,210,
211-212,216-218,219,221,226,228,
al-ghayb, 65 229,252,256,261,265,266,267,269,
ghaybah, 204; of the Mahdi, 217, 276
22~222, 254 imiiu, 30, 102, 207, 257
298 Index of subjects
lnjil, 62, 63 qalam, 29, 56

al-imiin al-kiimil, 55, 67 qiblah, 38, 86, 260
1 i~mah, 135, 251, see also ma 1~iim Qur1an, 24, 43, 45, 49, 55, 57-58, 59, 61,
62, 63, 71, 72, 81, 84, 85, 88, 89, 99,
j~r. 63, G4, 66,260,265 101, 111, 113, 114, 116, 122, 124, 133,
jiimi 1ah, 63--M, 66 155,168,185,205,212,215,223,224,
Jihad, 15, 37, 107, 114, 141, 142, 148, 225,226,239,254,257,260,267,271
188, 256, 272. 277
}inn, 81, 123, 181, 182, 196, 213, 226, Rac;lwah, 125, 210
227,255 ra}'ah, 198, 217, 222, 228
Rarnac;lan, 40, 88, 99, 149, 150, 155
Ka 1bah, 124, 128, 129, 188, 225, 226,
227, 249, 250, 253, 285; and Karbala 1, Safavids, 15, 22, 153, 182
180-182 ~a~ifah, 66, 199
karam, 89 saqifah, 93
kariimah, 58, 67, 87, 113, 1,16, 211 shan,ah, 64, 67, 123, 261, 266
Karbatal, 27, 28, 32, 33, 34, 39, 77, 88, Sh~ah,38,51,66,94, 102,103,108,123,
91, 106, 109-110, 117, 126, 131, 136, 135,198,204,207-208,212,222,247,
147, 152, 160-161, 164, 167, 177, 252-253
180-184,185,188,189,192,210,211, Siffin, 215, 237
224, 231, 236, 237-238, 249, 250 ~irii(, 202, 213, 283
karrah, 224, 227 Sufism, 15, 55, 87, 264
khalifah, 41, 73, 96, 124, 255 sunnah, 61, 101, 107, 220
khiliifah, 40, 48, 94, 124
T asnim, 202, 206
law~,29, 56; of Fa~irnah, 63 tawwiibiin, 152
Logos, 30, 199, 216, 282 ta 1zfyah,41,42,47-48, 78,119,128,141,
146, 148, 149, 151-158, 159, 160, 163,
maqiitil, 121, 153-154, 156; sources for, 167, 169, 173, 174, 176, 179, 180,
20-21, 22 251-253,277,278;sourcesfor,16, 18,
mariithi, 16, 19-20, 142, 158-180, 21
249-251, 279; sources for, 21, 22 thawiib, 18, 142, 147, 148
ma~iim, 31, 65
mi 1riij, 78, 199 ulii al-'azm, 32, 33
mubiihalah, 79, 268 ummah, 38, 41, 70, 97, 99, 101, 183, 235,
mufawwit/ah, 64, 135, 276 236, 257
Mu}Jarrarn, 91, 109, 110, 131, 137, 147, Ummayads, 82, 85, 88, 95, 97, 103-104,
149, 151, 155, sec: also (Ashural 106, 107, 108, 123, 141, 142, 143, 152,
mu~iifaqah, 193-194, 204 160, 173, 189, 241, 248, 253, 257
mu~~af H~irnah, 63, 64, 67, 265
wahi, 57, 69, 124
na%, 153, 154, 251 wakil, 135, 220
11iyii~ah, 152, 153, 175, 176, 177, 179 waliiyah, 58, 65, 70, 147, 190, 191, 193,
Index of subjects 299
194,198,202,207,208,214,215,221, wa~iyyah, 70, 84, 124, 195

251
wali, 87, 116, 122, 147, 189, 203, 209,
244, 249, 254 ziyiirah, 16, 18, 157, 183-195, 254-258,
wa~i, 55, 73, 204, 255, 267 277; al-arba'in, 278; sources for, 21.
wasilah, see IJadith a/-wasilalt see also 'iishurii'
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Ayoub Redemptive Suffering in Islam

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Ayoub Redemptive Suffering in Islam

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Redemptive Suffering in Islam

Religion and Society 10

Mouton Publishers The Hague Paris New York

Mouton Publishers The Hague Paris New York

Jacket design: Wasma'a Chorbachi

The present study is a revised version of a Ph.D. dissertation which I

I am deeply grateful to my friend and colleague Dr. William A.

Toronto, 1978 Mahmoud Ayoub

2. THE PRooFs OF Goo (Jfujaj Allah) 53

3. THE MASTER OF THE YOUTHS OF pARADISE (Sayyid_

4. THE WRONGED MARTYR (al-Shahid al-Ma~liim) 93

5. THE SIGH OF THE SORROWFUL (Nafas af-Mahmum) 141

6. AT THE PoOL Of AL-KAWTHAR (1Afii .f;law4 af-Kawthar) 197

B. APPENDI~ TO CHAPTER 3: 'THE MASTER OF THE YOUTHS

c. APPENDIX TO CHAPTER 4: 'THE WRONGED MARTYR' 245

D. APPENDIX TO CHAPTER 5: 'THE SIGH Of THE SORROWFUL. 249

D.3 A ziyorah attributed to the twelfth Imam during

The transliteration of Arabic into English in the present work follows

Complete bibliographical information for the works listed below can

E/ 2 The Encyclopaedia of Islam, New Edition (1960--

SEI Gibb, H. A. R. and Kramers, J. H., Shorter Encyclopaedia

GAL(S) Brockelmann, Karl, Geschichte der Arabischett Literatur:

GAS Sezgin, Fuat, Geschichte des Arabischen Schriftums, Vol. I

Islam has no clearly defined doctrine of redemption. Yet redemption

thought, all the imams have shared in this suffering. Consequently,

moreover the community of suffering to which, in some way, all the

METHOD, ScoPE AND Souaces

The themes discussed in the outline above represent a long historical

been composed shortly after the death of I:Iusayn, which provide

it. Another important later maqtal is al-Luhiif by Ibn Tawiis 12 (d.

aw Shu 1arii> al-l-fusayn) compiled by Jawad Shubbar. This is a

The House of Sorrows

Human life has been marked by a great mystery, the mystery of

considered the mistress par excellence of the House of Sorrows. As she

1.1 THE MERIT OF SUFFERING FOR THE PIOUS

1.2 THE PARTICIPATION OF ANCIENT PROPHETS IN THE SUFFE~IJS"G OF

The family or household (ahl al-bayt) of the Prophet Mubammad

Furthermore, by the Abrahamic sacrifice the friend (khal'il) of God

like Jesus son of Mary in every respect. Thus I:Iusayn is depicted

Another tradition set in a similar context of family intimacy, in

with moving vividness the lot of I:Iusayn and his companions. He

persecutors are even more roundly condemned in this account, for

As for I:Iusayn, he is flesh of my flesh and blood of my blood; he is

the dish would have remained with my descendants, undiminished to

I:Iusayn used to smell it whenever he faced hardship and found in it

divine favor and infinite love for the household of Mubammad is

emotions of the participants. It must be emphasized that those present

1.4 THE SUFFERING AND DEATH OF FATIMAH THE RADIANT ONE,

One of the most tragic characters in all of human history, according to

The Proofs of God

We have attempted in the previous chapter of this study to depict the

the discussion of the life, mission and death of Imam I:Iusayn. It is

2.1 THE CREATION AND SuBsTANCE OF THE Imams

The imams, for Shfl'i Muslims, may be thought of as a primordial idea

many traditions recounting the manner of their creation and their

Mul)ammad and the imiims in a divine saying (hadith qudsi), uttered

and the essential goodness of creation corrupted; man had to struggle

quoted in full. The Imam is supposed to have addressed one of his

communicated to earlier prophets. These letters he communicated to

dictated by him to <Ali. The jiimi<ah, from its title, appears to be a

2.3 THE PERSONALITY OF THE Imam AND SIGNS OF HIS IMAMATE

incapable of giving wrong council or be amiss, from the right direc-

the punishment for an offense as one flogging {jaldah ), one half a

Shris, then Imam I:Iusayn can be regarded as the living perfection, or